The Winners

Vehicles and Fuels

Cotswold Council for Voluntary Services (CCVS)

Cotswold Community Transport provides transport services to older, disabled and rurally isolated members of the local community. CCVS wishes to use ECU eco-mapping technology within its fleet of 15 minibuses. “Engine control unit” mapping helps to re-programme a vehicle’s engine management system to optimise fuel performance based on where and how the vehicle is used.

CCVS are awarded £5,000 to carry out ECU mapping work and to provide eco-driving training to their drivers.

Smarter Driving and Eco-Driving

Green for Go - Global Action Plan’s Climate Squad

Climate Squad aim to embed long-term eco-driving habits in newly qualified or learner drivers through a series of workshops and simulator training. The training will be delivered by young people, to help test the potential for peer-to-peer support in changing behaviour. Climate Squad will be testing to see whether simulator training works better on its own or in conjunction with interactive workshops, providing useful insights for future projects.

Climate Squad are awarded £5,000 to develop and deliver their Green for Go programme.

WiganRecycles

WiganRecycles has developed a programme to deliver fuel efficient driving training to public sector workers in the borough. Training is delivered by young unemployed people (18 – 24) who are trained and certified as professional trainers, introducing them to green collar industries and employment opportunities. The young trainers have designed the training programme and materials. A pilot programme saw the training delivered to the local Primary Care Trust, with 37 sessions given at 14 different locations.

WiganRecycles are awarded £2,500 towards the ongoing costs of the project.

Reducing car use

Ace Bicycle Club

Ace of Clubs is a day centre in South London for vulnerable, homeless and isolated members of society. The Ace Bicycle Club aims to provide bicycles to vulnerable and homeless people to allow them access to free, environmentally friendly transport. The Club’s volunteers have created a bicycle workshop to repair and rebuild donated bicycles for their members and for the local community. The Club would like to increase the service they offer within their local community and also offer bike maintenance / mechanic services to other community organisations.

Ace Bicycle Club is awarded £1,000 to cover the costs of professional mechanic training for one of their volunteers.

Passing the Cycling Baton - Broomfield Bike Beauties

Broomfield Bike Beauties started as a group of non-cycling mums who met at the school gates. The group started going cycling together and has recently completed a 190-mile ride for charity. They now wish to encourage cycling among other parents through a series of outreach activities including using an electric bike to increase participation.

Broomfield Bike Beauties are awarded £1,000 for the purchase of an electric bike and towards their outreach work.

Changing up a gear - Oxcar

Oxcar is an existing car club which expects to have 16 vehicles operating by summer 2010. Oxcar has been experimenting with a scheme whereby members can lease their existing vehicles to the club, helping to reduce the level of finance required for additional vehicles. Oxcar has generated a number of other ideas that would support expansion but, as it is volunteer led, lacks the time and resource to pursue these ideas. Lessons learned would be shared with other Car Clubs.

Oxcar is awarded £5,000 towards running costs and staff time to enable further development of innovative ideas.

SPOKES

SPOKES is an informal network for staff within the NHS who cycle to work or use a bike for business purposes. SPOKES has almost 400 members nationwide and has been successful in raising the profile of cycling on a new SPOKES website, through work with the Carbon Trust, and at a number of NHS sustainability conferences. Support provided by SPOKES has led to cycle shelters being installed in two hospitals, advice being provided to five NHS Trust and seven Trusts starting Bicycle User Groups in the past year. SPOKES would like to escalate its work and reach more widely into the NHS.

SPOKES is awarded £500 to help with promotional materials and affiliations that will raise its profile further.

Highly Commended

The following entries were highly commended by the judges:

easitNETWORK

easitNETWORK acts as a conduit between business and local government creating localised networks to lobby for changes to local public transport provision, generate funding and create a sense of community. Seed funding from local authorities is turned into a revenue stream from membership fees over a two year period making each local network self-sustaining.

easitNETWORK offers a bespoke car share website with over 6,500 members, a bicycle loan scheme. The project has helped to provide car sharing and cycle parking spaces, increase bus and train usage by providing discounts, work with more than 60 schools on travel issues, launch two new bus routes and introduce a number of businesses to EST’s Green Fleet Review.

I Move It Ltd

IMOVEIT was formed in 2008 to provide a low cost delivery alternative within the UK by utilising the empty boot space of motorists going that way. Using a web-based booking system, customers can access low or no cost delivery quotes from everyday motorists who are travelling the same route with empty boot space. Customers can purchase through an auction approach or a “buy it now” approach. Motorists are paid 40p per mile for the initial 10,000 miles covered, reducing to 25p thereafter.

School Travel Health Check

The School Travel Health Check holds a mirror up to show what is happening in terms of travel to and from school. Using mapping technologies, it shows the current patterns of travel, and can be used to predict future patterns and what success in achieving modal shift might look like. The system also calculates the benefits of switching away from private car use in terms of carbon per kilometre and calories per kilometre (ie, health benefits for children).

The STHC is used by 29 local authorities, covering 1.5 million schools. It is offered to local authorities at the lowest possible cost as it moves from being grant funded to being self-financing.