Hook Norton low carbon group

We will be featuring local village eco-initiatives that will hopefully inspire our community at Sibford. This term we’re featuring Hook Norton and the article was written by Fran King.

Hook Norton Low Carbon group was set up to improve energy efficiency and carbon footprint of the community by promoting the implementation of carbon reduction and renewable energy initiatives at a local and individual level within and around Hook Norton.

How does the village afford to do it?

In 2010 Hook Norton Low Carbon was one of 12 organisations around the country to be awarded funding by the government as part of the Low Carbon Communities Challenge. This funding provided them with capital to invest and assist others to invest in sustainable carbon reduction initiatives.

This included among other projects the purchase of cars and electric bikes for community use / hire. The cost to join Hook Norton Low Carbon (and hence be able to take part in the car club, electric bike hire, low cost loans for insulation etc) is £1 – a one off lifetime fee.

How does the car club work?

There are now 3 electric cars and one hybrid car (which runs on waste oil biodiesel – stored at the brewery).

Car club membership costs £5 per month. The cars can then be booked online, either well in advance or at short notice if they are available. They can be booked for just 1 hour or for a few days. The electric cars cost 60p per hour plus 28p per mile and the hybrid car 60p per hour and 44p per mile. This price includes fuel.

The cars are parked at various places in the village (the electric ones hooked up to a charging point) and the keys in a key safe to which members are given access to the codes. Once booked you just turn up, get the key from the key safe and drive off. Return the car to the same spot when finished and re-hook up the electric cars to charge.

The driver needs to hold a full driving licence and be over 20 years old.

Advantages

• This works really well in a household where perhaps one member just needs occasional use of a second car. The family can then just buy one car and use the car club for the few times a second car is needed. There are therefore no costs to the household of taxing, insuring, servicing etc a second car – the car club prices include all of the above (driver is liable though for first £250 of any insurance claim). There is no outlay of buying a second car.
• It can also work as the only car in a household. I used the car for a year or so as my only car and managed this ok but worked locally enough to cycle to work most days.

Disadvantages

• It may be that the cars are already booked out when you need one.
• The distance possible to travel in the electric cars without recharging is limited if you are driving a long distance, so the diesel car may be the only option. I did find sometimes for very long distances when I worked out the cost of the diesel car over a few days hire, it worked out cheaper to hire a car externally. (This only happened once or twice in the year.)
• One time I turned up to collect one of the electric cars and the electric charger had tripped out, so the car had not fully charged. Fortunately I was not going far so there was enough charge for my outward and return journey. There are however a set of charging leads in the car, so it is possible to charge up at your destination before your return journey if necessary (this includes to a domestic household plug if necessary, although this takes longer).

Electric Bike Hire – how does it work?

There are now 6 electric bikes in the village for hire. Hire includes a pannier rack, lights, lock and I think helmets are available (they certainly used to be)

To hire the bikes, it costs £5 per year membership and then £2 per day, per bike hired. The bikes are booked online and collected from their storage point in the village, using the code to access the key safe.

Advantages

• Great way of getting around the local area.
• Definitely a great way of getting up hills!
• Encourages people who may not cycle normally to enjoy a ride in the fresh air and get some exercise.
• I used the bikes post knee operation, when my knee was not quite up to making it up Sibford hill twice daily for a few months on a normal bike!

Disadvantages

• Can’t think of any! Except possibly they may already be booked out when you want to hire them.