Making our town and the planet cleaner and greener

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In July 2019 we declared a Climate Emergency and set out our commitment to reduce the carbon footprint of the borough and of the council itself. Our ambitious goal is to make the borough carbon neutral by 2030 and this will require making big changes to the way we all live, travel and work.

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One of the most important issues for us to tackle is reducing car use - our roads are already congested and our town continues to grow. If we collectively started to reduce car journeys, traffic on the roads would decrease along with carbon and the other emissions that cause harmful air pollution.

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With this in mind we have been working on providing alternative modes of transport for residents that make leaving the car behind an easy decision:

 

• Our new Beryl bike share scheme went live earlier this month with 200 bikes and over 40 drop off and pick up points across the town, with more bikes and bays to come.

• On 1st July our new ArrivaClick on demand bus service launched a phased service, which will scale up to seven new 15 seater minibuses as we ease out of lockdown restrictions. The buses will operate across the town bringing people where the need to go rather than following a fixed route.

• Our new travelWatford app is now live and ready to download from Play and App stores with information on these new initiatives and all the available options people have for getting from a to b in the town.

 

We are also encouraging more take up of electric vehicles through our e-car hire scheme and by introducing seven new ev charging points at various locations across the town - these will be operational from April this year.

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We've invested in a new building for the Watford Cycle Hub which will provide more support services for cyclists  - this will open its doors in April.

 

Other plans and actions that will enable us to reach our carbon neutral 2030 goal are being developed a by a newly established Sustainability Forum. They are writing a strategy setting out plans for the boroughs route to zero carbon. If you would like to be get involved with the Forum or share your views on making Watford a greener cleaner town email us at communications@watford.gov.uk

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