HOMES and businesses in Bradford on Avon could get their power from the river running through the town if a scheme for a hydroelectric plant goes ahead.

Bradford and District Community Develop-ment Trust wants to carry out a feasibility study to find out if a hydroelectric plant could be built to harness the energy of the Avon.

Gerald Milward-Oliver, chairman of the development trust, said: "The trust is a place for generating ideas, consulting on them and then hopefully trying to find a way of making them happen and this is just one of many projects we are looking at."

The trust first came up with the idea in response to a government initiative, which suggests that 11 per cent of energy used in the south west should be renewable by 2010.

It is now asking the South West Regional Development Agency to finance the study.

Mr Milward-Oliver said: "Because the government is so keen to get more renewable energy projects up and running to meet this target, I cannot see that we will have any problems with getting the funding and support for the feasibility study."

Energy conservation consultant's ESD, based in Corsham, are likely to be hired to conduct the study, but it could be at least a year before the study is completed, and then any further plans approved.

Mr Milward-Oliver said: "The two most obvious sites are one of the two weirs at Avon-cliffe and in the town, but it may be that we could have a small station somewhere along the river."

He stressed that the visual impact of the project would be minimal, with just a small building like an electricity sub station at the site where the energy was being harvested.