Dorset Council rated one of UK's greenest - as electric bin lorries hit the road

Although Dorset Council's efforts to tackle climate change with electric bin collection vehicles hit a snag - some residents on Portland missed the collection because they had not heard the vehicle approaching, it has been revealed.

Climate brief holder Cllr Ray Bryan says the authority has been ranked 40th out of 401 councils.

He says the council’s efforts to tackle climate change continue with more than 50 electric vehicle charging points now installed across Dorset as part of a council initiative.

This week he will be joined by other councillors to officially open a new cycleway at Leigh Road, Wimborne, while he says work continues with landowners and farmers to try and improve their green credentials.

Cllr Bryan also told this week’s Cabinet meeting that plans were underway to replace what he described as “a substantial number” of the council’s road fleet with electric vehicles, once the existing diesel and petrol vehicles, came to the end of their working lives.

He said an experimental electric-powered bin collection on Portland had been tried -  only to find some residents missing the collection because they had not heard the vehicle approaching.

New electric bin lorries have been trialled in Dorset. Picture: Dennis Eagle

Cllr Bryan said talks were also continuing with several companies about how the council could improve its own generation of renewable energy – as he was talking workmen were on the roof of County Hall starting to install solar panels.

The portfolio holder also revealed that the £19m it had been given by the Government to reduce the council’s carbon emissions, one of the biggest financial awards in the country, had been hit by the rising costs of materials with average increases of 20per cent.

Some of the money is going into helping reduce the carbon footprint of Council owned buildings with grants also being given to some schools and leisure centres.

Amongst these are 15 schools identified for air source heat pumps with leisure centres in Purbeck and Blandford ear-marked for LED lighting, solar panels and upgrades to their electrical infrastructure.

Electric road sweeping vehicles are also being pioneered by Dorset Council

Cllr Bryan told a previous meeting that once all of the projects identified so far have been completed they will create total CO2 savings of around 2,600 tonnes annually, and bring financial savings of around £375,000 each year.

The authority has recently appointed a director-level senior officer to head up its climate and ecological emergency team, Steven Ford, who will come to the Dorset from a similar job in Cornwall.

Mr Ford has over 18 years’ experience working in public policy related fields, including working overseas in a developmental capacity and in the UK public sector.

He says his job for Cornwall Council as Head of Service for Environmental Growth, Climate Change and Heritage has responsibility for delivering the carbon neutral action plan as well as a wider environmental growth and landscape management agenda in conjunction with a number of partners.