Thousands of Kirklees Council employees are to be persuaded to leave their cars at home under a new two-year project.

If the initiative is successful, hundreds of companies in the district will also be asked to follow the example to help cut congestion, pollution, road accidents and noise on the roads.

The local authority is set to appoint a green travel co-ordinator to look at ways of encouraging staff to take the bus, walk, cycle or go by train to and from work. The co-ordinator will work closely with local bus companies. The Council has secured £25,000 of European funding for the scheme and on Monday the environment committee is being asked to approve £56,000 towards it.

Environment officer Fiona Glover said the Council employed more than 17,000 people which represented 13 per cent of the local workforce.

Of these 70 per cent travel to work by car but only ten per cent actually need their car for their job.

Miss Glover said: "The green travel co-ordinator will work closely with personnel to look at ideas about how to get employees to be less dependent on their cars.

"One incentive might be introducing Metro cards to persuade workers to use the bus. We're also planning to set up a car-sharing database to match people living close to each other.

"Another idea is having a car pool and getting Council services to share transport services. For example there is no reason why a van delivering mail cannot drop off a computer at the same time.

"If the scheme is successful we hope to extend it to companies and businesses in Kirklees. Some already encourage car sharing.''

She said the health benefits such as less stress and the exercise derived from walking or cycling as well as money saved on car insurance, road tax, petrol and car maintenance would also be pointed out to employees.

"One of the aims will be to raise awareness about the link between car pollution and respiratory illnesses such as asthma.''

Miss Glover said the project would complement Kirklees' involvement in the national Don't Choke Britain campaign and the government's New Deal for Transport policy to reduce the number of cars on the roads.

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