Grace Robin DoughtonCity of York Council recently expressed concerns regarding the city’s air quality, with plans to apply for extra funding in order to improve it, and following these concerns the council has now been awarded an additional £19.5K of funding following on from the £68,500 received in April 2011. One&Other’s 6th of January’s article on air quality in York found that it was difficult to determine whether York’s air quality really was that bad.
The main issue that affected the quality of York’s air was an increase in the flow of traffic, which is a problem for the whole of the UK that will inevitably affect all cities, especially popular tourist ones like York, where millions visit each year.
The council too have identified this as the main contribution to the problem, and is therefore using £19.5K of funding received from the Department for Environmental Food and Rural Affairs to support the Eco stars fleet recognition scheme.
The scheme provides free advice to large fleets of vehicles like buses and coaches, to ensure that they are being used as efficiently as possible. The advice can save vehicle fleets up to £2,300 per vehicle as less fuel will be used. This will also reduce the likelihood of unnecessary damage to the air quality as less harmful gases will be emitted.
As many of the city’s residents rely on buses and coaches to get into and around York as well as the tourists it is therefore essential that the main consequence of this is targeted, without hindering the use of transport for tourists and locals.
Although the scheme will initially focus on buses, coaches and heavy goods vehicles, it is the council’s intention to extend the scheme and reach out to other large vehicle fleets in York, such as taxis.
Hopefully that will mean cheaper taxi fares! One can only hope.
