North Yorkshire Police is taking steps to reduce its carbon footprint with a new fleet of fuel-efficient vehicles.

The aim is to decrease CO2 emissions by using less fuel and reducing the size of the force's fleet.

All new Road Policing vehicles will have diesel engines and the use of fuel throughout the force will be carefully monitored with the help of Motorvate, a scheme run by the Energy Saving Trust for organisations committed to ongoing carbon reduction.

North Yorkshire Police Authority are investing over £2.5m this year in the new fleet which includes beat vehicles in the shape of Ford Focuses, Mitsubishi Outlanders and Ford Connect cell vans.

Road Policing vehicles include the BMW 530, Audi Quattro and Land Rover Discovery models along with BMW and Yamaha motorbikes.

Richard Flint, Head of Transport for North Yorkshire Police, said: "This investment from the Police Authority will reap tremendous benefits for front-line officers and staff as the changes roll out.

"We are committed to reducing our carbon footprint which we are aiming to do by utilising these new vehicle types and cutting the size of our fleet where possible. We are also looking to save money by using less fuel which will also reduce our CO2 emissions significantly."

Some of the cars currently being used will be changed for cell vans, which will reduce the need for multiple vehicles at the same incident.

For example, if an officer attends an incident in a car and needs to arrest someone, a cell van must be deployed to detain the offender. However, if more officers are able to attend call outs in cell vans it reduces the number of vehicles required.

Increasing the cell van capacity will help to cut the number of vehicles required in the fleet. They have been upgraded to become a 'multi-use' police vehicle and will be able to store all the equipment required for officers to manage any incident they attend.

Over forty new fleet vehicles are already in operation with  another 180 scheduled to be on the road over the next 12 months.

Chief Constable Grahame Maxwell said: "The new fleet of vehicles will not only improve the day-to-day efficiency and effectiveness of policing the communities of North Yorkshire and the City of York, they will also ensure that we do it in the most cost-effective and environmentally friendly way as possible.

"I thank North Yorkshire Police Authority for their continued support and commitment to improving services, while at the same time helping us to reduce the carbon footprint of the force."