Free Kirklees parking plan for electric and hybrid cars

Under plans being considered by Kirklees Council's Cabinet on January 20 parking will be free for hybrid and electric vehicles across the borough in a bid to encourage more people to drive them.

Also if a £1m investment is approved by Cabinet, it will see five new rapid charge points and 80-100 new fast charge points installed in public car parks and on-street to support residents and visitors to move towards electric vehicles.

This will add to Kirklees’ current network which has three rapid chargers and 22 slow to fast chargers in the public domain, with a further 17 rapid chargers being installed in public locations by October 2021.

The council also plans to invest a further £1million to add 50 new electric vehicles to its fleet – this is also set to be decided by Cabinet.

This would add to the five small electric vans, 20 electric and 30 hybrid pool cars the council currently has in its fleet and the 24 small electric vans which are already in the process of being procured.

Councillor Naheed Mather, Cabinet Member for Greener Kirklees, said: “Climate change is already happening and action to address it is now an emergency. Cases of extreme weather such as heat waves and rainfall are having consequences already in Kirklees with issues such as moorland fires and flooding in particular affecting the region.

“However, it’s not too late to prevent some of the very worst effects of climate change and we must act now. The council’s new long-term objective is to make Kirklees a carbon-neutral district by at least 2038.

“To help Kirklees achieve this we are making much needed investments in greener forms of travel and are encouraging people to switch to electric vehicles.

"This will not solve the climate emergency alone, it is one of the many ways we’re looking to make a real difference.”

The Council passed a motion declaring a district-wide climate emergency in January 2019 and established the Climate Emergency Working Party (CEWP) to identify actions to reduce emissions in Kirklees.

On November 12 the council’s Cabinet approved the CEWP’s action plan which sets out an ambition for Kirklees to become a carbon neutral district by at least 2038 – the deadline set by the West Yorkshire Combine Authority. This means environmental impact is considered as part of any decision made by the authority.

Some other key actions to help Kirklees reach this target include; boosting local woodland through the White Rose Forest Partnership, establishing a Kirklees Climate Commission and Kirklees Green Charter and to hold a Kirklees Youth Summit on climate change.

The council also aims to significantly improve recycling rates to reach the target of 55 per cent by 2025. With measures to improve recycling rates, in advance of a full review of the waste collection and disposal service.

This all forms Phase 1 of the council’s climate emergency action plan, Phase 2 will set out how Kirklees will become carbon neutral by 2038 and will be released next year.

Supporting all of this work is Kirklees Council’s Air Quality Action Plan which identifies the action the authority will take to improve air quality in the borough between April 2019 and March 2024. This Action Plan was also approved by Cabinet in November.