Surrey County Council leader Dr Andrew Povey showed his commitment to environmental issues by announcing plans to cut mileage allowances for councillors with gas guzzling cars to encourage greener travel.

Initially, members whose vehicles emit high levels of CO2 will find their mileage rate reduced from 40p to 39p a mile. The intention is to cut this further by 2013. Councillors with low emission vehicles will continue to receive an allowance of 40p a mile.

Following a recent meeting of the Full Council, Dr Povey said: “We are committed to reducing our carbon footprint and one way of doing this is to make sure we travel in more environmentally friendly ways. The initial penny reduction is a statement of intent that I hope will make councillors think twice about how they travel.

"In coming years, reducing the mileage allowance further should encourage members to buy more fuel efficient vehicles or consider using public transport, car sharing schemes or bicycles.”

The county council is committed to reducing the county’s carbon footprint and a series of measures have been taken to make sure its activities are more environmentally friendly, while helping residents to live greener lives.

These include encouraging staff and residents to take part in car sharing schemes, undertaking a project to replace all Surrey’s 80,000 streetlights with energy efficient lamps and making energy monitors available to borrow for free from libraries so residents can measure and reduce their energy consumption.