Climate Change and Air Quality Progress Report 2022 to 2023

Internal emails to staff this year have included items on:

• volunteering opportunities for tree planting, highlighting the work performed by volunteers from Planning, Growth and Sustainability regarding the tree planting at Platinum Park Way
• the benefits of the Cycle to Work Scheme
• inviting staff to contribute to the High Wycombe Transport Strategy and Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan (LCWIP) consultation
• posts encouraging staff to consider walking or cycling to work

Following the award to the Council from Defra of an Air Quality Grant of £578,000 to upcycle and electrify a refuse collection vehicle (RCV) procurement of a supplier for the contract for the retrofit work has been awarded to Lunaz Applied Technologies Ltd. Delivery of the upcycled vehicle is expected before the end of 2023.

It is anticipated that the zero tailpipe emissions RCV will travel 412 miles a week on collection routes in the north of Aylesbury, including roads in three air quality management areas.

It’s forecast that over 10 tonnes of greenhouse gases (CO2e), 69 kgs of oxides of nitrogen (NOx), and half a kilo of particulate matter emissions will be saved per year.

Since the installation of the fleet electric vehicle charging points at the Family Time Services’ sites in High Wycombe and Aylesbury, two battery electric multi-purpose vehicles have been used for operations to transport families throughout the county. During this period, it is estimated that the vehicles have resulted in GHG emission savings of 2.04 tonnes of CO2e over a 12 month period, compared with the diesel vehicles previously used. There have also been air quality benefits, with reductions of carbon monoxide (by 10.99 kgs), oxides of nitrogen (by 1.76 kgs) and airborne particulate matter (by 0.10 kgs) per annum.

Buckinghamshire Council is moving to electrify its fleet and has ordered 8 electric vans to replace the diesel vans currently used for operations. With assistance from the Council’s Fleet Management team, six battery electric vans will be delivered to the Highways Team, along with one vehicle each for the Crematoria and Cemeteries Service and the South Waste and Street Scene Service.

A new electric vehicle has been delivered for the Country Parks Service at Black Country Park. This will be used to travel between country parts across the county and replaces the use of a Diesel pick up. The requisite charging infrastructure has also been installed.

The “Work Smart” practices, reported upon in last year’s Progress Report, continue - allowing council operatives to work from home, where operationally feasible, approximately 60% of the time.

This has been enabled by IT systems and hardware that allow for effective remote working, such as Microsoft Teams.

Managers decide on how best to balance the home/office working patterns of teams to ensure that required performance standards can be met while social and environmental benefits can still be realised.