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Newcastle named most sustainable city

ELECTRIC cars, urban bees and the work of several major employers on Tyneside, have helped Newcastle to top spot for the second year running in a league of the UK’s greenest cities.

Newcastle has been named first among the country’s 20 biggest cities in the annual league table of sustainability, published by Forum for the Future today.

Meanwhile Sunderland has slumped three places since last year to 16th spot, with Leicester second, Brighton third and Hull last.

Projects ranging from an electric car hub, with nearly 600 charging points, to an urban bees programme, helped Newcastle to feature strongly in all of 13 indicators, bar strength of the local economy.

Forum’s chief executive, Peter Madden said: “Cities are having to count every penny, so it is more essential that they invest wisely for long-term success.

“They should look to the way that the leaders, especially Newcastle and Leicester, are developing plans to run services in smarter ways, tackle challenges like climate change and secure the jobs of the future.”

Other initiatives which pushed Newcastle into first place included its smart-power meters and thermal imaging of the city, which has started to help grade heating efficiency.

The city has also revamped municipal flower beds, installed bumble-bee boxes and hives, and designating selected allotments as “bee gardens”.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .