Local authorities and bus companies in Bristol, York, Brighton, Surrey, Denbighshire and Wiltshire have been awarded the funding under the government’s ‘Low emission bus scheme’ to help them buy 153 cleaner buses.

The successful bidders will use the funding to buy new electric and gas buses, and to install stations to fuel or charge them.

The government is determined to clean up air in towns and cities across the country, and today’s (28 August 2017) investment in green buses comes after our air quality plan was published last month.

Transport Minister Paul Maynard said:

Low emission buses are an important part of our plans to make motoring cleaner and improve air quality across the country.

New greener buses will be more comfortable for passengers, they are cost efficient and are good for the environment.

I am pleased to announce this latest group of successful bidders, which should make a real difference to air quality in towns and cities across the country.

The successful bidders are:

• Denbighshire County Council, Wales – £500,000 for 4 electric buses to be used on services in mid-Denbighshire
• City of York Council – £3.3 million for 24 electric buses to be used on park and ride services in York
• South Gloucestershire Council – £4.8 million for 110 gas buses for services around Bristol
• Surrey County Council, Guildford – £1.5 million for 9 electric buses to be used on park and ride services in Guildford
• The Big Lemon, £500,000 for 3 electric buses to be used in the Brighton area
• Go South Coast / Wiltshire County Council – £500,000 for 3 electric buses to be used on park and ride services around Salisbury

The government’s support for low emission buses is one part of a £600 million package of measures from the Office for Low Emission Vehicles by 2020, plus £270 million announced in the 2016 Autumn Statement to support the roll out of low emission cars, taxis and buses and supporting infrastructure.

This follows an initial £30 million awarded to bus companies and local councils in July 2016 under the ‘Low emission bus scheme’ to help put over 300 more low emission buses on the country’s roads.

Later this year, the government will also publish plans for a second round of the ‘Low emission bus scheme’ with a view to putting even more of the cleanest buses on our streets.

Almost £500,000 will be awarded to community projects to tackle the blight of littering, Environment Minister Thérèse Coffey announced today.

The money will support the development of new innovation and approaches for tackling litter, from behavioural research for better positioned bins and recycling points so more people throw their rubbish away, to digital technology. This includes apps and ‘smart-bins’ that can text alerts to rubbish collectors when they are full, stopping nasty litter from spilling out onto our high streets or leading people to litter nearby.

Cleaning up the country’s streets costs the tax payer almost £800 million a year when much of this is avoidable litter, and money that could be better spent in the community.

Despite this, a worrying 1 in 5 people have admitted to dropping litter in the past. As we head into the bank holiday weekend, with people out enjoying the warm weather, they are reminded to throw their rubbish in bins or take their rubbish home, rather than spoil our spaces with rubbish.

The Litter Innovation Fund will support local areas to crack down and reduce littering in our communities by enabling local authorities, community groups, charities, educational institutions, and small and medium enterprises to apply for funding towards innovative and creative solutions to the problem.

Environment Minister Thérèse Coffey, said:

Tackling the litter that blights streets across our country is an important part of our drive to be the first generation to leave our environment in a better state than we found it. I pay tribute to those who help clear up our pavements and verges.

The Litter Innovation Fund offers a great opportunity for the most creative solutions to littering to receive funding and for us all to learn new ways of how to stop littering happening. 10% of the fund is entirely dedicated to preventing marine litter, a growing problem with global consequences for our precious marine environment.

I encourage groups to get involved and showcase the wealth of options there are out there to tackle littering. Let’s help people make the right choices.

Communities Minister Marcus Jones, said:

The Litter Strategy detailed our plans on education and awareness, improving enforcement and better cleaning and infrastructure. I said in that strategy that I am passionate about our need to reduce litter in this country and I meant it.

Many areas are similarly keen to tackle litter locally by encouraging their communities to bin their rubbish properly rather than littering their streets and green spaces.

We are looking to support the most creative plans with a funding boost from the Litter Innovation Fund.

Welcoming the fund’s launch, Keep Britain Tidy Chief Executive Allison Ogden-Newton, said:

Innovation is vital if we are to change the behaviour of the minority of people who still think it is OK to drop their rubbish on the ground for someone else to pick up.

Keep Britain Tidy’s Centre for Social Innovation was created to develop and test new approaches to behaviour change and we are delighted to see the Government has recognised the importance of innovation to tackle the blight of littering in our country.

All projects will be measured and evaluated to assess their effectiveness and the most successful could be rolled out more widely. This will ensure local authorities and communities make the best use of a host of innovative solutions in focussing their resources to tackle the scourge of litter.

In addition, some £45,000 of the fund will be exclusively dedicated to projects designed to address marine littering and help prevent the amount of plastic entering our oceans.

The fund builds on the Government’s wider Litter Strategy for England and the Government today has also published responses to the public consultation on penalties for environmental offences including littering.

Information for applicants to the Litter Innovation Fund can be found on WRAP’s website from 10am on Saturday 26 August.

For further information please contact Defra press office on out of hours on 0345 051 8486.

The Environment Agency publish permits that they issue under the Industrial Emissions Directive (IED).

This decision includes the permit and decision document for:

• Operator name: Mr J Varley
• Installation name: Morecambe Metals
• Permit number: EPR/DP3798LH/V006

The RoSPA Health and Safety Awards are among the world’s most prestigious safety accolades. They recognise our safety performance in 2016/17, a year in which we made significant progress in the clean-up of four of the most hazardous buildings in Europe.

Retrievals Director, John Oliver, said: “We have installed the first retrievals machine that will remove waste from the Magnox Swarf Storage Silo, removed more than 50 tonnes of nuclear fuel from the First Generation Magnox Storage Pond and removed the first drum of radioactive sludge from the Pile Fuel Storage Pond.

“Completing this technically difficult work while maintaining an unrelenting focus on safety is a credit to our teams and the supply chain”.

Safety Director, Euan Hutton, said: “We take these awards as a badge of pride in our safety performance and, while we want to improve our safety performance, we are proud of the work our people have done to deserve these awards.

RoSPA judges consider entrants’ overarching occupational health and safety management systems, including practices such as leadership and workforce involvement.

Julia Small, RoSPA’s head of awards and events, said: “The RoSPA Awards are the most prestigious in the world of occupational health and safety, and held in high regard around the world, as winning one demonstrates an organisation’s commitment to maintaining an excellent health and safety record. Achieving the standard required is no mean feat.”

Find out more about the RoSPA Health and Safety Awards

The Environment Agency consult the public on certain applications for the abstraction and impoundment of water.

These notices explain:

• what the application is about
• which Environment Agency offices you can visit to see the application documents on the public register
• when you need to comment by