Hundreds of tonnes of wood chip is needed for the scheme

The plan to replace traditional heating with a boiler using locally-sourced wood at Llandwddyn near Lake Vyrnwy in Powys was originally costed at �312,000.

But completing the heating network of 19 homes and the village school will now cost an extra �50,000 after an oversight about who owned land where heating pipes were due to be laid.

Contractors did not realise that several houses were not owned by Severn Trent Water Ltd.

We all have to put our hands up and admit that mistakes have been made Andy Bull, Powys Council

"Completing the heating network as originally planned would have then needed negotiations with multiple land owners," said Andy Bull, Powys Council's principal planning officer.

The alternative of laying longer pipes, costed at �50,000 has been backed by the council's board of leading members.

'Tremendous potential'

"We all have to put our hands up and admit that mistakes have been made," said Mr Bull.

"But this project has tremendous potential and I am relieved it has been given the go-ahead."

The village is near Lake Vyrnwy

The project to heat the school, houses and community centre at Llandwddyn, eight miles from Llanfyllin, is designed to cut energy bills, combat greenhouse gases and tackle fuel poverty.

The council will own the equipment and rent it to contractor Dulas Wood Energy, which in turn will sell the fuel back to home owners and the local authority, which runs the school..

More than 450 tonnes a year of wood chip will have to be fed into the boiler to power the scheme.

It will save homeowners up to �80 a year in fuel bills, said Hayley Myles, of Dulas Wood Energy.

"The high cost of the project is because we have to lay the pipes to all the properties involved in the scheme and setting up the network," she added.