JOURNEYS made by staff from Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council to site visits or to meet with residents will be greener following the purchase of a new electric pool car.

The move is part of the borough council’s work to encourage the use of electric cars across the borough to cut carbon emissions.

To charge a car at the Civic Offices will cost around £2 for up to 124 miles, cutting the council’s fuel bills as well as its carbon footprint.

Bikes will also be available for staff going on short work trips. They are also encouraged to get to work in more environmentally-friendly ways with a salary sacrifice scheme for bikes and lower emission cars and a rail discount scheme.

Councillor Hayley Eachus, Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council’s Cabinet member for community services and the environment, said: “It is only right that the council should set an example by trialling an electric car for the journeys that staff have to make in their jobs.”