Transport is the single biggest contributor to carbon dioxide emissions in the UK, making up 24% of all emissions in 2020, mostly from road transport.  

Just one car free day every week could save you over £120 a year on petrol bills and around 300Kg of CO2 emissions, as well as contributing to improved air quality and providing you with 'free' exercise.

By changing the way you travel, you can not only significantly reduce your carbon footprint and help combat the effects of climate change, but also improve your health and wellbeing. Both small and large changes can help make a difference.

Kent Connected

Make smarter travel choices with Kent Connected

Kent Connected is a free journey planner that allows you to make smarter travel choices with your health, time, and the environment in mind. Plan your route by either downloading the Kent Connected app or visiting their website. Kent Connected makes travel planning easy by showing live bus and train times, offering different route suggestions for walking and cycling and using integrated walking and cycling maps to help ease any worries and get you on your way. The app now features an Ordnance Survey map layer as well as a brand new section featuring Explore Kent walking and cycling routes.

Active Travel

Active travel means walking or cycling as a means of transport in order to get to a particular destination such as work, the shops or to visit friends.

It does not cover walking and cycling done purely for pleasure, for health reasons, or simply walking the dog. Active travel can be for complete journeys or parts of a journey. Active travel can have many benefits including: improved health, financial savings, reduction in traffic congestion, increase levels of physical activity and improved air quality.

Why not try:

• walking for journeys that are less than one mile
• parking or getting off the bus ten minutes away from where you’re going and walking the last part of your journey
• walking to school as part of a walking bus. A walking bus is a fun, healthy, safe, and sustainable way of travelling to school
• book on to San Fairy Ann's Road Cycling Safety Training and become a safer, more confident cyclist on public roads
• become a Sustrans Ranger or Community Route Champion and help us look after our off road cycle network
• use the Kent Connected app to see if you could complete your journey by bike

Electric Vehicles (EVs)

New cars and vans powered wholly by petrol and diesel will not be sold in the UK from 2030 and by 2035 all new cars and vans will produce zero carbon emissions at the tailpipe. Zero emission vehicles reduce the emissions which contribute to climate change and air pollution, improving the environment around us.

Choosing an EV can help you save money and reduce your carbon footprint. Visit the Energy Saving Trust website for all you need to know about EVs .

EV charge points- find all EV charge points near you using apps such as Zap Map.

Events

We are working in collaboration with our partners to deliver the following, tickets available on Eventbrite.

Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (LEVI) Funding

Kent County Council has been allocated £12,080,000 in the Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (LEVI) funding to provide charging solutions for residents without access to off street parking, including Maidstone.  We are currently identifying potential locations for on street charging points and welcome your thoughts, especially if you own an EV or are thinking about making the switch. The interactive map where you can make suggestions for chargepoint locations to be considered, can be found on the Let's Talk Kent website

Car Pooling

Carpooling or ride-sharing, is the sharing of car journeys instead of everybody taking separate cars or modes of transport.

For example, if you live close to a few colleagues, you could pick them up on your way to work. The next day, another one of your colleagues could pick everybody up and do the driving. Alternatively, if you’re meeting a few friends for a day out, one person could decide to drive everyone, instead of taking multiple cars. Car sharing is a great way of alleviating the stress caused by travel and reducing road and parking congestion.

If you’re interested in carpooling, but don't know where to start, try visiting Kent journey share. You can sign up to receive updates when other members are travelling a similar journey. You can set your profile to seek or offer a lift – or both!

Don't be idle

Leaving your engine running when your vehicle is stationary is called idling.

Idling creates air pollution by increasing the levels of exhaust fumes and harmful gases in the air.  Air pollution irritates the lungs, lowers resistance to infection and makes conditions like asthma, heart and lung disease worse. Did you know that every minute that a car is left running when stationary it gives out enough pollution to fill 150 balloons.  That is why we are asking everyone to switch of their engines if they are going to be stationary for more than a minute.

You don't need to leave your engine running when parked up waiting for someone or if you’re in traffic and haven’t moved for a while. Idling wastes fuel and can increase wear and tear on your engine. With modern vehicles, the cost of switching off the engine and starting up again after a minute or more will be less than the cost of leaving the engine idling.

It’s easy to play your part in improving our air quality. Simply switch off your engine if you’re going to be stationary for more than a minute.

By switching off your engine when it’s practical and safe to do so, you’ll help protect your health, save money and reduce air pollution.

School Banners

Do you have space for an anti-idling banner near your school or nursery?

As a hotspot for car idling and the negative impacts of this behaviour, MBC are funding free banners outside schools, or in the close vicinity of schools in our Borough. The impacts of air pollution are particularly pronounced in children, and so a focus on this particular hot spot type is of real importance. The banners were designed by local children within Kent as part of the Pollution Patrol campaign, which we have been actively promoting to Maidstone schools.

Contact climateandbiodiversity@maidstone.gov.uk to request a banner (no advertising permission required).

School Streets - Brunswick House Primary School