SEPA aims to cut air travel by half

SEPA aims to cut air travel by half

Last November the Sunday Herald reported that a freedom of information request had revealed that officials at the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) had taken 1500 flights between Scotland and England in the previous year, more per member of staff than most other public sector agencies.

Now SEPA has launched a major overhaul of its travel policies with the aim of cutting flights within mainland Britain by half within a year. According to SEPA's chief executive, Campbell Gemmell, some staff have an "alarming dependency" on pollution-causing flights to London. "This needs to change," he is reported to have said in an internal email released in response to a freedom of information request. Any air travel must now have written approval from managers, and staff have been told to fly only as a last resort.

Sepa to cut number of UK flights by half (Sunday Herald, 18 March 2007)