Pedal power: The national park is going for more green travel

Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority is set to offer 50p a mile to officers who cycle to meetings.

The move - which also covers loans to buy electric bicycles which are charged up when going downhill to help "flatten" the uphill sections - is part of a new-look green transport policy.

More of the authority's 115 staff will be able to work from home while others will be able to take advantage of video conferencing facilities designed to cut out business trips altogether.

A report before the park authority's personnel committee on Wednesday argues the organisation needs to more to reduce its impact on the environment and to act more sustainably.

What we're trying to do is to stop people coming in on their own in the car Sarah Middleton

The park currently spends a six-figure sum meeting the cost of staff commuting more than 420,000 miles each year as well as travelling 155,000 miles on business.

Planning officer Sarah Middleton, a keen cyclist herself, drew up the document which calls for an "emissions allowance" that encourages employees to buy cleaner vehicles, a database for car sharers and boosts the cycling allowance from 20p to 50p a mile.

"The idea is to provide some sort of incentive to change from driving cars to other means of transport, including public transport," she said.

"What we're trying to do is to stop people coming in on their own in the car.

Taxable expenses

"When we talk about green travel, people think they have to do it all the time and that is not the case.

"If everybody cut down on one day a week, that would reduce costs significantly."

The travel plan, if approved, would take effect after the park authority moves from its current offices in Haverfordwest to Llanion in Pembroke Dock next spring.

Staff living in Haverfordwest who cycle the 11 miles to the new HQ would be able to claim the bicycle allowance for four years, although the expenses would be taxable.