Friday 7 August 2020

Winchester City Council awarded £5.6m funding for low carbon transport infrastructure

Winchester City Council has been awarded a £5.6 million fund to build more park and ride spaces and electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure.

A new site, which will feature photovoltaic panels and EV charging points, will provide around 300 parking spaces to reduce traffic in the city and encourage more people to embrace low carbon transport options.

The funding has been made available through the government’s £900 million Getting Building Fund to support green technology after the Covid-19 outbreak.

The work is expected to begin before Christmas this year and to be completed in early 2022.

It will support the city council’s pledge to become a carbon-neutral council by 2024 and achieve carbon-neutral status for the whole district by 2030.

Councillor Martin Tod, Cabinet Member for Service Quality, Transformation and Transport, said: "It's also another step forward for the City of Winchester Movement Strategy, making it easier for people to get into town without needing to take their car right into the centre."

Cabinet Member for Climate Emergency and Local Economy, Councillor Paula Ferguson, added: "This new development gives people a chance to do things differently. They’ll be able to park just on the edge of the city and take a short pleasant walk in and if they have an electric vehicle, they’ll also be able to charge it."