WINCHESTER is facing a huge challenge to hit its carbon reduction target by the end of the decade, a meeting heard.

Transport is the main cause of green house gases but the city council has no control over the main polluter, the M3 motorway.

Dozens of people attended the Carbon Neutrality Open Forum to hear how local authorities and transport providers are battling to reduce their emissions.

Buses are key to encouraging people out of their cars, the meeting heard, yet services are being hit.

But Marc Reddy, managing director of Stagecoach South, said passenger numbers were only at 75 per cent pre-Covid levels.

It has 45 buses in Winchester, employing 130 people, with the company aiming to have zero-emission fleet by 2035.

Mr Reddy said EV cars would reduce pollution but not congestion. "To make buses attractive they have to be quicker. If buses are quicker then people will use them."

There have been successes. The 64 service between Winchester and Alton has more buses seven days a week. Free travel on Sundays last May saw a spike in passenger numbers and numbers are still up with the current maximum £2 fare, said Mr Reddy.

"We need to get people to use buses rather than just an insurance when they don't have other transport. The flat fare of £2 is a great initiative, there isn't a better time to take the bus."

The forum heard from Peter Jacobs who questioned the county council cutting bus subsidies. As examples, Oliver's Battery, Owslebury and Allbrook now get fewer buses, he said.

Stewart Wilson, principal transport planner at Hampshire County Council, said: "We have to reduce car mileage by ten per cent if we are going to achieve carbon neutrality. It means providing people with more choice, better walking and cycling infrastructure. We need quicker buses and an increased bus network as well. We have to make the streets more comfortable for walking and cycling."

Roddy Crockett, of Sustrans charity, said the key aim was to persuade people out of cars in favour of walking or cycling: "We have to use carrots rather than sticks. How can we enable people to live without a car and still be able to get to work?"

Electric vehicles will reduce emissions but they are bigger than non-EVs and heavier and so worsen problems such as congestion and damaging the road surface, the forum heard.

Phil Gagg, chairman of the transport group at Winchester Action on the Climate Crisis, said: "Winchester's transport emissions are twice the national average. To achieve net zero we have got to do something really radical this decade."

It will be vital to produce green electricity and not have EV cars running on electricity produced by gas, derived from fossil fuels.

Currently buses carry on average 1.25 passengers: "We should aim for 20 passengers per bus," said Mr Gagg.

"We have to do something quite radical. There is a fundamental need for lifestyle change. We have to find ways of doing that so people don't feel bullied. That is the real challenge over the next few years."