Councillors at Surrey County Council have taken a cut in mileage rates. However, the 6,942 council employees who use their own vehicles for business trips can still reclaim at the full AMAP rate of 40p per mile. They also receive up to £460 as an annual lump sum payment for using their car on business.

Councillors said the move was for environmental reasons rather than to save money.

Initially, councillors whose vehicles emit more than 150g/km of CO2 have their mileage rate reduced from 40p to 39p a mile.

The intention is to cut this further by 2013.

Councillors with vehicles emitting less than this will continue to receive 40p a mile.

Council leader Dr Andrew Povey said the move was a “statement of intent” that will make councillors think twice about how they travel.

But the council’s thousands of grey fleet drivers have significantly more polluting cars.

According to Fleet News research carried out late last year, the average vehicle emissions from the council’s grey fleet is estimated to be 206g/km.  

The drivers of these cars will continue to be paid at approved mileage allowance payment (AMAP) rates of 40p per mile for the first 10,000 miles and then 25ppm for every subsequent mile.

These grey fleet drivers travelled 9m miles last year costing the council some £4.5m.

The council said it is working to address mileage, but is not reducing grey fleet payments.

“We are reviewing how we can reduce the number of miles our staff need to cover in their cars by looking at smarter ways of working such as working from home and conference calling. We are also members of Streetcar, which gives staff access to vehicles for work purposes which makes it possible for them to leave their cars at home. We also operate a successful car-sharing scheme,” a spokesman said.

For help in calculating the running costs of your fleet, have a look at the fleet news running costs calculator.