Southwark leads way on alternative fuels
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• Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott MP unveiled the first electric Citroen Berlingo in the UK. The van was bought by the London Borough of Southwark, which believes it has the largest publicly owned alternative-fuel transport fleet in the country.
Prescott also witnessed the signing of the ALTER (Alternative Traffic in Towns) declaration of intent by the deputy mayors of Southwark and of Florence, Italy. ALTER commits participating authorities to renewing their fleets on a clean or zero-emission basis. They also have to undertake to convert long-term
vehicles to lower emissions or cleaner fuels, and introduce areas to which only traffic with clean or zero-emission power sources would have access.
Southwark has already replaced 30% of its 309-strong fleet with gas or electric-powered vehicles, and intends to have a 100% low or zero-emission fleet by April 2000. The borough has four electric Berlingos (similar to the Peugeot Partner described in CM 26 Feb-4 March) and four electric Peugeot 106 cars and vans. In addition, it has 40 Vauxhall Combos, 10 Transit vans, 10 Transit tippers and eight Ford Escorts powered by LPG (liquefied petroleum gas). Electricity and gas refuelling points have been installed at two of the borough's depots and Shell plans to install LPG pumps on two garage forecourts within Southwark. Prescott says: "There is still a role for the motor vehicle, but it's got to be 'greener and cleaner. I congratulate Southwark for replacing its fleet."