Climate action: transport

Clean, connected and in-control: what tomorrow’s transport technology could mean for councils 

Councils in charge: making the case for electric charging investment 

These briefings are designed to help councils set goals for reducing carbon emissions from transport and understanding a range of key options available to them to make the rapid progress required.

As part of their fleet decarbonisation drive, the shared service between South Cambridgeshire District and Cambridge City Council took delivery of a fully electric Faun Zoeller E-Rotopress in July 2022. The councils are working to replace bin lorries with electric or alternative fuel vehicles as existing diesel trucks come to the end of their working lives.

South Cambridgeshire District and Cambridge City Council: Zero carbon fleet drive

In 2020, Essex County Council appointed Jacobs and Essex Highways to develop a Sustainable School Travel Design Guide after identifying the need for greater guidance to optimise sustainable design.

Essex County Council: Sustainable School Travel Design Guide

Eleven new electric vehicle charge points are now available in Carlisle, as Carlisle City Council works to make the city more accessible for electric vehicle drivers.

Carlisle City Council: Charging up Carlisle

Working with MacRebur and Shell as part of the ADEPT SMART Places Live Labs Programme, Cumbria County Council has introduced ‘plastic’ roads around the county using products which replace some of the bitumen with recycled waste plastic. They are the first in the world to trial MacRebur’s product and the first in Europe to trial Shell’s.

Cumbria County Council: Trialling innovative new plastic in roads products

Swindon Borough Council has developed a Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) that has helped secure the creation and maintenance of travel plans for new education, workplace, and residential developments. It obligates developers to fund initiatives through payment of a significant travel plan contribution to the council for it to resource implementation, or payment of a bond which repaid when the developer fulfils their obligations.

Swindon Borough Council: Sustainable travel

Lancashire County Council recognised that a planned highway capital surfacing programme was a highly carbon intensive programme of works, so begun a journey to ascertain the carbon output of the surfacing programme, record and measure changes made to reduce it, and develop tools to allow them to integrate carbon usage into the asset lifecycle modelling.

Lancashire County Council: CO2e assessment and reduction in carriageway resurfacing

Colchester eCargo bike library aims to break down barriers to the use of electric cargo (eCargo) bikes for deliveries instead of cars or vans. The Council got funding for 25 eCargo bikes and five electric trailers. 13 were given to 10 local organisations including Colchester Hospital and a new eCargo bike delivery service. Six are available for short term loans for local organisations, and the rest used by Council staff such as those in Neighbourhood services.

Colchester Borough Council: eCargo bike library

Swale Borough Council will now save more than 30 tonnes of carbon every year with a fleet of nine new electric vehicles.

Swale Borough Council: New EV council fleet

Santander Cycles Leicester is a new public ebike share system for the city, owned by Leicester City Council, delivered by Ride On and supported by the Department for Transport (DfT) and Santander UK.

Leicester City Council: Santander Cycles Leicester

Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea council moved from a resident parking permit structure with seven price bands to one which is more directly related to the CO2 emissions of the vehicle.

Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea: Emissions-based parking permits

Middlesbrough Council was the first area in the UK to allow a trial to enable the use of private rented e-scooters on its highway, following changes in legislation.

Middlesbrough Council: E-scooter trial

Bristol City Council and Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust have an innovative programme to reduce the amount of petrol Community Health teams use.

Bristol City Council: Zero petrol project

North Yorkshire County Council’s in-house development team has built a portal to automate and streamline service requests from parish clerks regarding highways defects and enable them to access real-time information on subsequent progress and repairs.

North Yorkshire Council: Parish Portal