By Beatriz Ferreira and Adam Dutton

The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall visited Leicester Market today.

The royal couple arrived at 1.35pm, just as brief flurries of snow started to fall, where they met stallholders, members of the Shama Women’s Centre charity and from Barnardos.

A Shama centre spokesperson said: “Our work is all about empowerment of women to help them feel confident with themselves, make new friends and achieve social and economic success. I’m absolutely delighted that the Royal couple is coming to meet us and recognise the work that we do.”

The VIP manager of Barnardos said: “We are celebrating Leicester today! It is a great city! We’re from the UK’s largest and oldest children’s charity, and this is a good opportunity for us because the Duchess of Cornwall is our Patron.”

As they walked through to the marketplace, Camilla said: “it’s a bit cold.”

When opening the newly named The Green Dragon Square, Prince Charles said: “It’s a special occasion to visit Leicester. I apologise for keeping you from your shopping in your splendid Leicester Market.”

Alongside the Sharma charity visit, Prince Charles and Camilla spoke to Peter Barrett, great grandson of Leicester suffragette Alice Hawkins, as they viewed her statue in the square. 

Earlier, he said: “I’m excited, I’m here with my sister Sue. We’ll be meeting Prince Charles and Camilla in just over an hour’s time. It’s my great grandmother Alice Hawkins, the statue we see here. So, we have been invited to meet the Royal couple as part of today’s event.  It’s very exciting. I’ve never met the Royals before, absolutely not. He may be the future King of England that we’re meeting today. It’s a very special day.”

Charles and Camilla visited several places around the city and the county, with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge joining them for a visit to the Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre (DMRC) at Stanford Hall near Loughborough.

By Molly Kerridge

The government unveiled a £50m plan to create the country’s first all-electric bus town, but several cities have already taken their own steps to reduce their carbon footprint.

Buses are currently the fourth biggest contributor to carbon emissions, behind domestic and long-haul flights and single person car journeys.

However, in 2015, Leicester City Council proposed a plan to increase the uptake of Ultra-Low Emission Vehicles (ULEVs) with a five-year programme funded by the council and the Office of Low Emission Vehicles.

The council set the target to introduce 10,000 new low emission vehicles in the city by April 2021.

Department for Transport figures show that from 2018-19, 2,964 low emission vehicles were introduced in the city of Leicester, as well as 6,956 across Leicestershire.

The proposal from the city council said the vision for Leicester is ‘to be the most forward, sustainable and environmental city in Britain and Europe’.

The city council also aims to transform people’s quality of life by reducing dangerous gases in the air produced by carbon emissions from cars and buses.