A sustainability grant scheme which offers firms up to £10,000 to promote alternative transport to work has been expanded.
The board of north-east transport partnership Nestrans met in Aberdeen yesterday to discuss the proposal.
The initiative includes funds to provide secure cycle parking and shower facilities, improve pedestrian access, develop a travel planning or paying for training.
The grants will cover up to 50% of any project and employer wants to put in place.
Transport strategy manager Rab Dickson said: “The scheme hasn’t had a huge number of applications and we thought it would be opportune to reinvigorate it.”
Nestrans will now decide a closing date for applications to encourage firms to come forward quickly.
Mr Dickson said: “We were starting to get applications over and over from the same people who knew about the scheme. So we will only be doing it once for each firm.”
He added that up to £95,000 is available in the body’s budgets to cover potential applications.
Ramsay Milne, Aberdeen City councillor and chairman of Nestrans, said the scheme tied into the “participatory budgets” which Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire councillors are now implementing.
Under the Your Voice Your Choice scheme, local groups can bid for grant funding to improve their local area.
Mr Milne added: “This is a good step forwards.”
In his report to the board, Nestrans director Derick Murray said the grants are not designed to help organisations comply with conditions of planning permissions or legal agreements which require them to provide sustainable transport.
The aim is to support businesses which would not otherwise bring in such schemes.
Mr Murray added: “It is also suggested that the scheme limit individual organisations to a single application per year, to try to ensure that as many organisations as possible are able to take advantage of the grant.”
