BIS boosts investment in refuelling and recharging stations for green vehicles

SIX successful bidders will share £660,000 match funding from the Department of Business for gas refuelling or electric vehicle charging infrastructure projects.   A private business in Essex, three councils across Yorkshire and the West Midlands, a public body co-ordinating transport in Merseyside and a community group on the Isle of Lewis are all winners in the latest round of support from the Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Grant Programme.  The six new projects will install infrastructure to support public and private sector fleets in trialling a wide range of natural gas, bio-gas and electric vehicles including buses, HGVs, and refuse collection vehicles. The projects offer the potential for fleet users to demonstrate cost and carbon savings as well as making significant local air quality improvements.

Business Minister Mark Prisk said:- "This funding is part of our commitment to build a low-carbon economy which will boost economic growth as well as help meet our ambitious climate change targets. It is one of the ways we are supporting changes in consumer behaviour that will drive the shift towards low carbon vehicle technologies.”

The £660k BIS funding is in addition to the £500k already committed by the Department for Transport earlier in the year. Transport Minister Norman Baker said:- “I welcome this addition funding to support low carbon vehicle infrastructure. Low carbon vehicles provide significant benefits – reducing CO2 emissions and improving air quality – but we need adequate refuelling points if the market for these vehicles is to grow. These projects will help to make low carbon vehicles a viable alternative for businesses and individuals.”

Clubmoor set to grow

THE Clubmoor area of Liverpool is set to receive a £1 million boost from the Big Lottery Fund. The area has been chosen to receive the cash as part of the Fund’s new initiative called the Big Local Trust, which targets areas that have previously received little or no Lottery funding. Councillor Joe Anderson Leader of Liverpool City Council said:- “This is great news for Clubmoor, particularly in an era of unprecedented cuts in public expenditure. It will give local individuals or groups the opportunity to make a difference to their area that will hopefully have long-lasting benefits to the community. It will also complement the existing community grants the city council offers.” The money will be used to fund local projects over a ten year period, starting towards the end of 2011. A local committee will be set up to administer the funds, made up of a wide range of interests and skills. Fifty areas nationally and nine areas across the North West are to receive Big Local Trust funds. More information about the nature of the projects which will be funded will be released in 2011.

LORRY THEFT GANG JAILED

THIEVES who stole computer gaming chairs worth over £6,200 from a lorry in Uttoxeter ON 23 July 2010, where jailed for a total of over 11 years.

The offenders unloaded 89 chairs from the back of an Iveco HGV parked in a layby on the A50 Draycott Island in the early hours of Tuesday 24 November 2009. They loaded the X-Rocker chairs into a 12-ton truck which they had brought to the scene.

The driver of the Iveco, who was asleep when the offenders struck, reported the theft to police at 4.15am. Around 15 minutes later the truck containing the stolen chairs was spotted by Central Motorway Police Group (CMPG) officers on the northbound M6 at Junction 16. CMPG officers pulled the truck over and also stopped Skoda and Nissan Primera cars used by the offenders. Six men were arrested.

A thorough inquiry into the crime was carried out by detectives from Staffordshire Police’s Major Investigation Department.

All six men pleaded guilty to conspiracy to steal when they appeared at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court on 28 June 2010. They re-appeared at the same court on Friday,  23 July 2010, for sentence.

Paul Wishart (45), of Quarry Close, Liverpool, was jailed for 20 months while Thomas Bibby (30), of Keresley Road, Liverpool and David Fielding (48), of Kemble Road, Liverpool were imprisoned for two years.

Brothers Kevin Atkinson (35), of Trecastle Road, Liverpool, David Atkinson (39), of Beaconsfield, Prescott, near Liverpool, and Paul Atkinson (38), of Kenbury Road, Liverpool, were also jailed for two years.

Wishart, David Atkinson and Paul Atkinson were also given two-year driving bans.

Det Sgt Steve Maxfield, from the Major Investigation Department, said:- “This organised crime gang – which included three brothers - deliberately targeted the lorry while its driver slept. Thankfully, they were quickly apprehended by CMPG officers. Our Crown Prosecution Service colleagues carefully considered the evidence to make sure appropriate charges were brought, reflecting the gravity of the offences. These sentences underline our determination to crack down on HGV thefts and do all we can to bring the criminals responsible to justice.”

Anyone with information about HGV crime should ring Staffordshire Police on:- 0300 123 4455 or contact Crimestoppers, anonymously, on:- 0800 555 111.