Nottingham fleets can now benefit from grants of up to £25k to improve workplace travel, including adopting greener vehicles, under a new scheme from the city council.

Workplace Travel Scheme brings support for Nottingham fleets

Aimed across the private, public and voluntary sector, the scheme covers three tiers – bronze, silver and gold – to provide graduated levels of targeted support to help fleets cut staff travel costs while reducing local road congestion and improving air quality.

This includes providing grants of up to £25k per business/organisation, which can be used for incentivising public transport, car clubs and cycling, and for driving ultra low emission vehicle take-up, for example through the installation of charge points and fleet reviews and an electric vehicle ‘try before you buy’ scheme. In total, £650,000 of Workplace Travel grant support is available for sustainable travel and EV infrastructure, with £850,000 support for fleet reviews, EV events and EV experience opportunities.

The scheme also offers access to travel and low carbon vehicle clinics, negotiated transport offers, free travel surveys and reports and supported travel action plans.

The city council – which says it’s already well on the way to converting 20% of its fleet to ULEVs before 2020 – says it’s already seen strong levels of support from 15 businesses and public sector organisations used to ‘soft market test’ the service, including Boots – which is headquartered in Beeston – as well as the Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust and Nottinghamshire Fire & Rescue Service.

The launch of the scheme was supported by a Drive Electric event last week, which gave attendees the chance to drive a number of electric vehicles as well as find out more about the service.

The scheme expands on the company’s previous work to support businesses with smaller cycling infrastructure grants, using revenue from the Workplace Parking Levy, and follows the city council’s success in bidding rounds to the Department for Transports, Office for Low Emission Vehicles and the Access grant, enabling it to increase the support on offer.

The launch of the scheme comes as the Transport Committee opens a review into integrated transport apps and their potential to deal with key mobility issues, including for fleets.

For further details on the Workplace Travel Scheme, please click here.