Government announces eight cities to share £40m in funding to promote ultra low emission motoring

Government announces eight cities to share £40m in funding to promote ultra low emission motoring The Department of Transport will on 25th January announce the eight winning British cities that will share a forty million pound investment for the UK’s first ‘Go Ultra Low Cities’ scheme. Set up by the Government and led by the Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV), the £40 million Go Ultra Low Cities scheme is rewarding eight cities that have presented outstanding proposals to boost the uptake of ultra low emission vehicles in their regions. Through their bids, four of the winning cities have demonstrated further potential to achieve ‘exemplar status’. Local authorities in Bristol, London, Milton Keynes and Nottingham are set to receive substantial funding for investment that ministers hope will position the UK among the world’s leading markets for low emission cars and vans. The Go Ultra Low Cities scheme is also providing funding to Dundee, Oxford, York and North East regions to implement elements of their bids, assist them in developing their low-emission transport strategies and enhance local charging infrastructure. All winning cities are likely to see thousands of new ultra low emission vehicles (ULEVs) on their roads over the next five years as a result, improving air quality and helping to transform people’s quality of life in their regions. A variety of inventive proposals have been put forward by local authorities from across the UK, many of which are scalable and can be introduced in towns and cities nationwide. Initiatives featured in the bids include: • EV experience and demonstration fleets for trial of electric vehicles (eg Milton Keynes will have 150 vehicles) • Creation of a Ultra Low Emission Zones for city centres • Replacing existing council fleets with pure electric and ultra low emission models • Free or discounted parking for ULEVs • Use of bus lanes for low emission vehicles including priority at traffic lights • On-street community charging facilities in locations where charging is presently impractical or limited • Enhancing usability and benefits for low-emission car club members with greater charging and parking options • Energy-efficient LED street lights that double-up as electric vehicle charge points • Removing license fees for taxis that are ULEVs • Support for local car clubs to provide further parking bays and charging infrastructure • ULEV business support programme to incentivise private sector uptake of low emission vehicles In March 2015, 12 cities were shortlisted to share £35 million of government funding and become the UK’s first ‘Go Ultra Low Cities’. The four main winning bids were subsequently chosen from: City of York Council; Department for Regional Development of Northern Ireland; Dundee City Council; Greater London Authority; Leicester City Council; Milton Keynes Council; North East Combined Authority; Nottingham City Council; Oxford City Council Sheffield City Council; West of England; West Yorkshire Combined Authority. In the autumn, it was decided that extra funding would be made available to seed-fund projects in four further cities. The cities receiving funding are: • Bristol £7m • London £13m • Milton Keynes £9m • Nottingham £6m • Dundee £1.86m • North East £1.5m • Oxford £800k • York £800k