CLEAN, green community centres could be created in Morpeth under council efficiency plans.
Morpeth Town Council is looking to invest around £50,000 in its St James's and Storey Park facilities to reduce both energy bills and carbon emissions.
The cash would be used to fund energy efficiency measures, such as insulation, double glazing a
nd new heating systems.
But each centre will need its own tailor-made solution.
Town Clerk Gillian Turner said: "St James's is the oldest community centre, but it is also the easiest to do work to because it has proper walls and a roof, whereas Storey Park is a framed building.
"In St James's the new boiler, loft insulation and double glazed windows are fairly normal jobs so it should be fairly straight forward. At the moment, St James's is the most inefficient centre, but only because it is the oldest.
"Storey Park is more complex.
"The building isn't as dated as St James's and it is more efficient because it has got separate kitchen heating, but the insulation of the roof is more expensive because there isn't a roof space. They would have to make special cladded boards.
"We would need double-glazed windows for the hall. The committee room windows are double-glazed already, but they are in a wooden frame and we have problems with condensation and water coming in.
"The doors at the front of the centre are not really draught-proofed either."
The council is particularly keen to address heating issues as the current boiler at St James's Centre in Wellway does not have separate settings for radiators and hot water, while the one at Storey Park in St Mary's Field is inefficient.
Members of the authority's Finance and General Purposes Committee welcomed the proposals and said they would also like to invest in new technology.
Coun Nic Best said: "You can get remote internet-based control of heating systems now, which may be something we want to look into. That would offset some of the caretaker costs."
Other councillors agreed and were eager to progress the projects.
Coun Richard Thompson said: "These buildings look as if they are in need of repair anyway. The fact that these things are going to be saving energy makes them a good idea."
And Coun Les Cassie added: "Let's go for the estimates and specifics for what we need and take it from there."
Savings of around £8,000 have been built up for the works, but if members agree to go ahead with all the improvements the council will apply for a Government loan.
However, Ms Turner warned that Northumberland County Council will have to give final consent for the projects.
"We do need to have permission from the unitary council," she said.
"When the old borough council had the centres we had carte blanche to do any improvements, but we don't have that at the moment. We may decide on a type of heater and if the county council is not happy with it we would have to look for something else."
