Lancaster City Council is delighted to have been successful in a funding bid for the installation of new electric charge points for taxis. The Department for Transport has announced it is to provide £630K in funding to support ultra-low emission taxis in Lancashire. The successful bid was submitted by the city council on behalf of itself and five other local authorities and will see the installation of 24 charge points – four per council area – across Lancashire.

The six authorities which formed the winning bid are: Lancaster City Council, Burnley Council, South Ribble Borough Council, Rossendale Borough Council, Fylde Borough Council and Wyre Council. Coun Andrew Warriner, Cabinet member with responsibility for environmental health, said: “As a council we are committed to reducing emissions and improving the quality of the air our citizens breathe. “We are delighted to receive this funding, which will allow us to support taxi drivers to move towards electric vehicles and reduce pollution.” The new funding is the latest good news in the city council’s priority of reducing air pollution and its impact on climate change.

Work is currently underway to install charging points at five of its public car parks, which should be completed in the spring. Charging points have also been installed by the council at White Lund Depot and Lancaster Town Hall as the city council begins the process of converting its vehicles from diesel to electric.

Two new electric pool cars and three electric vans have already been added to its fleet in a bid to reduce emissions.