Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Workers on electric bikes will carry out litter picking and maintenance under new Highland Council pilot scheme

Sustrans has given the council three e-cargo bikes for initial trial in Inverness and Fort William. Image: Sustrans
Sustrans has given the council three e-cargo bikes for initial trial in Inverness and Fort William. Image: Sustrans

Litter picking, maintenance and even home visits could soon be carried out on e-cargo bikes, thanks to a new pilot by Highland Council.

Instead of travelling by car, three council services are trialling electric bikes.

The Inverness amenities team plan to use the e-cargo bikes for litter picking and maintenance around Bught Park. The city’s roads team are also trying out some pedal power, using the e-bikes for routine roads inspections.

The third pilot area is Fort William’s child health team, who will cycle to their home visits.

E-cargo bikes in action from next month

Councillors welcomed the e-cargo bike trial at today’s meeting of the climate change committee.

“It’s fantastic to see this, and I hope to see many more in future,” said Green party councillor Kate Willis.

The e-cargo pilot aims to offset fleet vehicle travel emissions with low-emission e-cargo bike travel.

It’s a partnership programme with Sustrans, who have provided Highland Council with three e-cargo bikes. Sustrans will also provide training and maintenance.

The one-year pilot will start at the end of April.

“This is a very exciting pilot and one which supports our wider net zero agenda,” said climate chairman Karl Rosie. “It also promotes low-carbon, active travel within our communities and the wider region.”

Schools in focus for further emissions reduction

Earlier in the meeting, members of the climate change committee discussed the considerable task of reducing emissions across the council area.

Highland Council faces a major challenge in reducing its vehicle fleet emissions, but a far bigger problem is its huge network of schools, offices and leisure facilities.

The council has more than a thousand non-domestic properties connected to utilities. Two-thirds of these are schools, so climate change bosses say those will be their primary focus in driving down emissions.

The climate change committee agreed to undertake more analysis of the energy performance of non-domestic properties, as well as host a series of workshops to thrash out the council’s net zero strategy.

Are you interested in all the latest news and updates from Inverness? If so, why not join our new Facebook group.

Conversation