Eight leading public sector organisations which work in the Vale of Glamorgan signed a Healthy Travel Charter on Friday 18 October, committing themselves to supporting and encouraging their staff and visitors to travel in a sustainable way to and from their sites.

Through fourteen ambitious actions, the charter promotes walking, cycling, public transport and ultra-low emission vehicle use.

The actions include establishing a network of sustainable travel champions, developing targeted communications campaigns for staff, offering and promoting the cycle to work scheme and increasing the availability of video-conferencing for meetings to reduce the number of journeys staff need to make across sites.

Between them, the organisations will commit to reducing the proportion of journeys commuting to and from work made by car, and increase the proportion of vehicles used during the day which are plug-in hybrid or pure electric.

Organisations which signed the charter at a launch event at the Vale of Glamorgan Council Civic Offices were: Vale of Glamorgan Council, Cardiff and Vale University Health Board, Cardiff Airport, South Wales Fire and Rescue Service, South Wales Police, HM Prison and Probation Services, Welsh Government and Welsh Ambulance NHS Trust.

By working together with a view to the long-term, public sector organisations across the Vale aim to increase the proportion of journeys made to and from workplaces which are sustainable, reducing the impact on the environment and health of people in the Vale for current and future generations.

The public sector in the Vale employs over one in four working adults, over 15,000 people.

Cllr Neil Moore, Leader of Vale of Glamorgan Council and Chair of the Vale of Glamorgan Public Services Board said "We are very pleased to see members of the Vale of Glamorgan PSB, along with other public sector organisations in the Vale, join together to make this important series of pledges to support people to travel more sustainably.

''Through the Well-being plan for the Vale of Glamorgan we are committed to making active and sustainable travel easier for people, to protect and enhance our environment."

Fiona Kinghorn, Executive Director of Public Health for Cardiff and Vale UHB, said "Increasing the number of journeys made on foot, by bike and by public transport, is vital to improving the physical and mental health and well-being of our citizens, and reducing our impact on the environment.

''The Health Board fully supports the Charter and has recently introduced a Park and Ride service for University Hospital Llandough, and has a number of initiatives to support staff who choose to cycle."