A COMMUNITY project which is aiming to improve the local environment is moving forward with two new projects.

Hovingham Project Purple was formed in September 2017 by six village residents.

The group, which now has more than 30 members, recently drew up a community climate action plan with the aim to be carbon neutral by the 2030s.

Caroline Davies, from Hovingham Project Purple, said the plan followed a village survey in which the majority of respondents said they wanted to be actively involved in reducing the community carbon footprint or wanted to know more about it.

“Three key areas are focused on as part of the plan - to reduce, reuse and repair more stuff; improve energy efficiency and reduce reliance on fossil fuels in homes and transport and develop community renewable energy resources,” she said.

“One of the latest projects is a Repair Café which will share repairing skills to fix and extend the life of items that would otherwise go to landfill.”

Caroline said the first cafe, which was held last month, saw nine local volunteer fixers sharing their knowledge and skills, and 25 people attending.

“Our latest project is the installation of on-street electric vehicle charging points,” she said.

“This initiative is timely as car users consider switching to electric vehicles.

“The Government wants to encourage the move away from petrol and diesel vehicles to electric vehicles as early as 2035 or possibly 2032.

““With grants from the Office of Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV), Ryedale District Council and Project Purple together with the support of the Village Hall Committee and Hovingham Parish Council, arranged the successful installation of two designated parking spaces in the village hall car park, each with an electric vehicle charging socket.

“This facility will provide choice to residents and will also encourage visitors to support the rural economy by using local businesses whilst they are using the car charger.”

The chargers will be operated by BP Chargemaster and sessions are paid for by each driver using a Chargemasters RFID card or mobile app. This is now the second electric charger installed in the village, the other was installed by The Worsley Arms for visitors to the hotel.”

For more information email projectpurple@hovingham.org.uk