South Ayrshire Council News

NHS Ayrshire & Arran, North, East and South Ayrshire Councils are working together to raise awareness of the benefits of using sustainable methods of travel to get to and from work. With over 20,000 employees between them changing the way in which employees travel will make a real difference to the environment.

These major employers in Ayrshire are encouraging their employees to consider walking, cycling, using public transport or car sharing to reduce car use to travel to work or to take children to school. Encouraging employees to use sustainable travel methods to work would help reduce NHS Ayrshire and Arran and all the Ayrshire Councils negative impact on climate change. It will also help employees to increase their physical activity, maintain or improve their fitness levels and reduce their personal carbon footprint.

During the 2008 European Mobility Week, which runs from 16 to 22 September, the organisations have devised competitions for their respective employees, to educate them and raise awareness of how to travel to and from work in a more environmentally friendly way.

Councillor Peter Convery, the Council's Portfolio Carrier for Sustainability and the Environment said: "South Ayrshire Council will be awarding prizes to the employees, generously donated by Strathclyde Partnership for Transport who is one of our Community Planning Partners, to the employees who demonstrate the biggest positive environmental change in the way that they travel to and from work. This will be measured in carbon emissions per person, per mile.

I hope that during European Mobility Week many people will make changes in the way in which they travel and that they continue to travel in a more environmentally friendly way."

Another incentive to change to a more sustainable form of travel is to save money, which can then be spent on something more enjoyable. A recent AA report estimated that each car mile travelled can cost £2.40 per mile (including fuel, maintenance and depreciation), compared with 0p per mile walking, less than 5p per mile cycling, 12p per mile by train, and 20p per mile by bus. Leaving your car behind, even if only for one journey per week, can help to decrease the number of cars on roads by up to 20%, easing congestion, reducing pollution and improving road safety.