Council awarded Cycle Friendly Employer Award

The Highland Council has been awarded a Cycle Friendly Employer Award and grant by Cycling Scotland  in recognition of its efforts to enable staff at its Inverness headquarters to cycle to work and meetings during the working day.

A grant of £1,800 will enable the Council to purchase personal lockers for staff and provide secure covered cycle storage.

The Council was commended for on-site facilities including: cycle parking; personal storage and showers; staff incentives, including a cycling allowance for biking to meetings, and participation in the national Bike to Work scheme, through which staff can purchase bikes at a reduced rate. 

The Cycle Friendly Employer Award was highlighted when 15 Council sites developed green travel plans with funding from the Energy Saving Trust.  These plans make recommendations for more sustainable travel including:

It is hoped that as a result of implementing these green travel plans, additional Council sites will obtain the Cycle Friendly Employer Award.

Also praised were the Council’s green travel web pages, travel plans for Council sites and events run including ‘Change your World week’, when staff and the public are encouraged to travel to work by a sustainable mode.

Councillor Angela MacLean, the Councils’ Green Travel Champion, said: “This award shows the Council’s commitment to encouraging sustainable modes of transport and links to wider work to reduce CO2 emissions from travel.  Emissions from Council business travel have reduced by 10% in the last year. This keeps us ahead of the target in our Carbon Management Plan to achieve 12% emissions reductions by 2012 from a baseline of 2007/08.”

Green Travel web pages can be found on the Highland Council website at: http://www.highland.gov.uk/greentravel.htm

For further information please contact: Malina MacDonald, Travel Plan Co-ordinator, The Highland Council, Chief Executives Service tel: 01463 702867  Email: malina.macdonald@highland.gov.uk