Visitors to Shropshire’s Little Switzerland will soon be able hop on an electric bike to explore the hills under a new scheme – the first of its kind in the county.
After months of planning, Stretton Climate Care is launching Shropshire’s first electric bike hire project.
The purpose behind the initiative is to encourage greater use of bikes as a mode of local transport and reduce carbon emissions.
The group won a grant from South Shropshire District Council enabling it to buy four Kalkhoff Agattu electric bikes.
The bikes are now available for hire from Central Garage opposite the railway station in Church Stretton.
The Strettons area features many steep hills and the Climate Care team said electric bikes were an ideal way to encourage both residents and tourists to leave the car behind when shopping or exploring the Shropshire Hills and countryside.
Residents and visitors can try the bikes out for anything up to a few days.
The bikes are lightweight with lithium batteries which give a average of 30 miles cycling for just a few pence of recharging. When rented out they come complete with panniers, safety jacket, padlock and helmet.
The technology is “pedal assist” making the bikes easy to ride, like an ordinary push bike, but the powerful motor takes much of the strain away from the cyclist.
Jon Cooke, of Stretton Climate Care, said: “We are delighted to form this partnership with John Mackenzie at Central Garage and hope this initiative will encourage more people to hop on a bike for local journeys.
“As a further incentive to encourage this form of transport, The National Trust are offering a voucher for free refreshment for anyone arriving at the Pavilion Tea Rooms on one of the bikes, for a limited period.”
Anyone over 14 can ride an electric bike. No road tax or parking fees are involved and running costs are minimal. For more details pick up a leaflet at the garage, Church Stretton Library or anywhere that Climate Care’s free home energy check-up cards are found.
By Catherine Roche
25 Comments
Well done to all those in Stretton Climate Care, who realise that small-scale, practical initiatives like this will inspire more and more people to make changes in their own lives to reduce carbon emisions.
Great news!
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And precisely how much difference to Global temperatures will 4 bikes make Huw?
Gimmickry - nothing more…
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Oh dear me what a load of old rubbish . Reduce there carbon foot print , yes right drive to stretton in there 4×4 park it up hop on a bike that they are to idle to peddle and all is well.
This is all rubbish recycle the lot, a big joke you can recycle the lot and reduce your foot print for your entire life but you set foot on a plane once it wipes out what you have done in a life time and your children do and there children do . ALL a big con BUT MAKE’S SOME FEEL A LITTLE BIT BETTER ABOUT IT ALL I SUPPOSE.
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Peter, shame on you! This is great inspiration for anyone who wants to do something positive for the environment in the Strettons.
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Hey! Wonderful but don’t forget the 3-Wheeler for people like me. I visited Shrewsbury in 2007 from Australia. I had a Mobility Scooter at my Shrewsbury address but there were NO FACILITIES on any Public Transport to go to Church Stretton to stay. I did go and stay there but could only walk 150yds in any direction. While I was there, I met two other Senior Australians visiting there.
It is possible to buy 3-Wheelers, go for it.
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Anything that encourages people to try riding a bike, or indeed to take any form of outdoor exercise or to travel without their car, is to be welcomed. A very interesting initiative, which I hope will be well supported.
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Simone, It won’t make a jot of difference to the environment. Given the hilly nature of the area, the batteries on these bikes will constantly need replacing, leading to the use of some fairly ‘unfriendly’ raw materials. The idea that this is somehow going to get people out of their cars to any measurable extent is risible.
Even if it did, it wouldn’t make the slightest difference to the environment locally, nationally or globally - it’s just a PR stunt.
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well done all
a great idea for health and the environment
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At least they are making the effort to do something rather than just saying “nah why bother”
Yes it’s only 4 bikes at the momment but i’m sure they will buy more.
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A good idea? good grief how ill informed are you people (WALK) . pr stunt and a poor one at that does nothing for the enviroment and not much for the persons health either no pain no gain, they will not even get in to a sweat.
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good for them
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Remember all electric vehicles use batteries not the most environmentally friendly items to dispose off but more importantly they need to be charged and that involves using mains power that by the time it gets to the consumer is at best 30% efficent is this calculated into the carbon footprint?
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Yes it may appear to be a publicity stunt and reading the responses it has obviously worked. Agreed it may not save the planet but it has promoted Stretton Climate Care whose main objective is to reduce the carbon footprint of the Strettons. Already over 140 households have benefited from home energy checks which provide the opportunity to save money and reduce carbon emissions. Thanks to all the contributors for raising the profile of Stretton Climate Care - job done
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objective done?? it is pointless. reduce the carbon footprint of the stretton hills if you say so.
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Taking the steain away from cycling. great, when our nation is fat enough!!!
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Oh dear, the usual suspects moaning in the new year? No surprise there then, Happy 2009! You know who you are.
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There are always some who will make fun of the work of others who give freely of their time to make a difference - in this case to help a local community reduce its carbon footprint. I wonder if those who mock have made any serious attempt to reduce their own carbon emissions? Well done the Strettons, keep leading the way.
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Well done Stretton Climate Care! Its great to hear about local green initiatives. Sorry some of the commentators want to see the negative in everything. Have you seen how high the hills are in the Strettons?! And Mr. Finch, perusing a few of the other articles from the paper, seems you don’t like animal charities much either.
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Simone, I wouldn’t be worried about the cynicism, if I were you.
The vital thing is that people are taking responsibility.
People are realising that acts speak louder than words.
People are saying ‘YES WE CAN’, even if those acts are small.
And now that the Obama’s US has joined the chorus after finally waking up to the reality of anthropogenic climate change, these small acts could gather their own momentum.
A friend of mine in Shrewsbury has an electric bike but this is the only one I have seen here so far, despite there being a supplier on the Monkmoor Road.
After reading about Stretton Climate Care’s initiative, I am already asking myself why we don’t have more.
After all, there is an electric bike supplier on Monkmoor Road.
Maybe they need some more publicity.
Any ideas, Derek Smith?
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I would like to know how these bikes will reduce carbon emissions. Last time I checked most electrity was produced from fossil fuel power stations. Why does everyone have a fixation with electricity being entirely environmentally freindly? The power has to be produced somewhere!
If this scheme were to have any credibility they woudl have provided free bikes… and with the money saved from purchasing electric bikes many more bikes would have been made available.
Also where do you stand legally with riding the electric bike on the roads in the area? Dont you need a licence, tax and insurance to use a motorised vehicle on the roads?
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its a good project but more suited to an urban area really, the rural roads in south shropshire are not ideal cycling territory, how about we have such a scheme in shrewsbury, telford or ludlow ??
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I’ve had a look into hiring one of these bikes. They look deceptively like ordinary bikes. Good grief, they aren’t scooters! I’ll actually have to pedal, but with the assistance of the small modern electric motor I’ll go farther and the those spectacular hills become less daunting. I might work up a sweat as a little work from me will be required. And very helpfully there is a great map with the brochure. Lots of gorgeous scenery to cycle through and almost all of it totally avoids the A49. These bikes may even tempt the 4×4 crowd to “get on your bike”. Well one can dream
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Big Matty is right to say that most electricity comes from fossil-fuels (or nuclear), but it is now increasingly possible to get green electricity from wind, solar or hydro-power.
I am sure that Stretton Climate Care power these bikes with electricity from renewable, green sources.
My family use the company Good Energy, but there are lots of other companies which offer green tarriffs.
It was very easy to switch. I recommend it.
Unfortunately very few people in the UK know about green tarriffs, so initiatives like Stretton Climate Care’s are important in raising awareness about them.
The sooner the market for green electricity grows, the sooner demand will drive prices down.
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Hiya Huw, Happy New Year. Its so good to see you back!
However have you seen what Green Guru, Peace Prize winning idol, Al Gore, has been riding around in?
Its not an electric car and certainly not an electric bike. Its an Audi A6 2.0 TDIe - well I suppose its better than flying.
In fact Al Gore is so pleased with it he is officially endorsing it. Yep this is true, apparently he became smitten with carbon fueled transport when he travelled in the A6 to a conference on climate change in he Netherlands on October 14th to deliver a speech on climate change.
And now he is officially endorsing the A6 in the Audi Magazine, Winter 08.
Now if Al Gore has finally seen the light, hopefully David Ike and his followers won’t be long catching up.
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Having just bought in November a Kalkhoff Electric bike to cycle a round trip of 28 miles a day to work, I can’t praise Stretton Climate care enough.
In an area as a hilly as that, 95% of people would not even consider cycling in the vicinity without the extra assistance an Electric bike provides.
I for one will be getting the train to Church Stretton in the future, and using one of the bikes to explore the local area. The Carbon cost of 40 miles cycling would not exceed the cost of a 100 watt light bulb burning for 4 hours - that’s got to be a lot better than driving all round the area all day spewing out CO2 - and much better for my health & happiness.
Those people who scoff at this initiative should develop a little more enthusiasm and a little less cynicism!
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