Lewes MP and Minister for Transport Norman Baker yesterday announced that car clubs across the country are set to benefit from an extra £40,000 of government funding.
Membership of car clubs, such as the one which works well in Brighton, allows access to vehicles for short periods of time, often by the hour, on a pay-as-you-go basis. The number of members of such clubs in the UK has increased from just 22,000 in 2007 to more than 127,114 - an increase of almost 500%.
The government has chosen to offer increased funding to car clubs, despite the difficult economic situation, to increase sustainability within, and lower carbon emissions from, the transport sector. Members of car clubs tend to choose to travel fewer miles by car compared to private car owners, and the vehicles they do drive are more efficient.
Speaking in his capacity as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport, Lib Dem MP Norman commented:
"I believe that increasing membership of car clubs can have significant benefits for the local environment, and can also help to reduce congestion on our busy roads. I would like to see more of such car clubs running across the country.
"The figures speak for themselves - each car club vehicle can take 24 private vehicles off the road and the low carbon vehicles used typically emit approximately 33% less CO2 than the average car.
"The Coalition Government has been clear in its commitment to sustainable travel initiatives such as car clubs to help achieve a greener and more sustainable transport sector."
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Contact Norman at:
Norman Baker,
23 East Street,
Lewes,
East Sussex,
BN7 2LJ.
Tel: (01273) 480281.
Fax: (01273) 480287.
Email: info
