The Hexham member, who represents parts of the former Castle Morpeth Borough, said giant turbines offer little return for local communities.

However, in a House of Commons debate on Friday, he backed the idea of small-scale energy schemes.

"My constituency has been defined as an area suitable for large-scale wind turbine development and there are now applications in place for 80 turbines in a relatively small area," he said.

"That has caused considerable annoyance and irritation to the locals, who believe that the landscape of Northumberland, which is one of our big selling points, will be damaged by the over-development of the turbines.

"They will also get no benefit from them, apart from the small amount of money that the companies give back, perhaps to renovate a village hall or something like that.

"There is no real pay-back for the community for having these things on their doorstep.

"Micro-generation, involving turbines within a community, would provide a direct benefit however, and the whole idea would become very much more popular."

Mr Atkinson said he supported the move away from burning fossil fuels and praised the use of sustainable wood energy in some projects and businesses in his constituency. He also called for more support for farmers to develop green energy systems.

The Green Energy (Definition and Promotion) Bill has been introduced by MP Peter Ainsworth to promote energy generated from renewable or small-scale, low carbon sources, as well as energy efficiency.

It calls on the Government to update its micro-generation strategy and review planning procedures to ensure there are no obstacles to small-scale schemes, such as micro wind installations, for homes, farms, schools and businesses.

The Government has also been asked to check that businesses and residents are not penalised with higher Council Tax valuations or non-domestic rates for installing green energy systems.

Mr Atkinson said: "It is an extremely worthwhile Bill and I thoroughly support it.

"What micro-generation needs is that gentle push to make it economic and once it passes through that barrier there will be an explosion of decentralised energy across the country, which will make a huge contribution to the cleaning up of our planet."