Network of charging points needed for Barnsley Council's new electric vehicles

The country is expected to meet that goal – of not producing more carbon dioxide than is removed from the atmosphere – by 2050.

But Barnsley Council leader Sir Steve Houghton has already announced the council aims to put the town ahead of that deadline, with the acceptance it will bring costs.

A step towards that outcome is to buy a fleet of 149 new vehicles, with a quarter of them expected to be fully electric.

That means they will produce no exhaust fumes and the rest will be less polluting than the vehicles they replace, due to more stringent controls on pollution from today’s generation of petrol and diesel engines.

Some of the vehicles will be used by partner organisations and the change means another £100,000 will also have to be invested in installing around 30 charging points at council premises, to ensure electric vehicles can be recharged.

Coun Chris Lamb told members of the council’s ruling Cabinet, which approved the investment, that the new vehicles would replace ageing models which now needed increased maintenance, leading to more down-time when they were not available to the staff who relied on them.

“It supports the ambition we have for our town in terms of clean air and a whole host of other environmental issues,” said Coun Lamb.