AVON Boating in Stratford is looking a lot greener.
The tourist attraction used £169,600 funding from Coventry and Warwickshire Reinvestment Trust to purchase 16 electric boats to replace their petrol ones.
CWRT lent nearly £300,000 Duplex Investment funding in total to small businesses to help them invest in environmentally-friendly products and services.
Gerard Walmsley, of Avon Boating, said: “Without the Duplex funding, the changeover would have occurred over three-to-five years. This would have been a bit of an operational nightmare as we would have essentially had to have run two products at the same time for our customers, and we would not have benefited from the reduced emissions and running costs as soon as we have.”
Sheridan Sulskis, CEO at CWRT, said it was great the finance provided by CWRT had had such a positive effect on green initiatives.
She said: “More and more businesses in all sectors are conscious of becoming environmentally friendly and it is fantastic that the loans provided have helped to make a difference to our area’s Net Zero targets.
“Avon Boating is Stratford’s oldest business but its modernisation into electric boats shows it is constantly looking to the future.”
Warwickshire County Council’s economy spokesman Coun Martin Watson added: “I am delighted that support from the Duplex Investment Fund has enabled Avon Boating to not only expand but do so in an environmentally friendly manner. Their growth in this way is a great example of partners and businesses working together for the benefit of all, not least the many visitors to Stratford who enjoy the offer of Avon Boating.”
