The KM Charity Team has won a coveted gold Green Apple Environment Award for its work running and promoting walk to school services across the county.

More than 500 other nominations competed for the award which is the fifth Green Apple the charity has received in the last decade.

Trustees Martin Vye, Gill Delahunty and Alan Albert collected the accolade this week during a glittering ceremony staged at the Houses of Parliament.

Honoured as an International Green World Ambassador, the charity will see its work published in The Green Book, the world’s only annual work of reference on environmental best practice.

The KM Charity Team operates the KM Walk to School campaign - which provides green travel services for schools in Kent, Medway and Bexley including Walk on Wednesday (WOW), Active Bug, Walking Bus and Green Footsteps – as well as the Buster’s Book Club literacy scheme for schools.

Simon Dolby, chief executive of the charity, said: “This is the start of our 10th anniversary year of WOW and Active Bug and I can think of no more fitting way to celebrate than with such a prestigious award.

“This recognises not only our services but also the families and schools that use them. Together we successfully removed more than 250,000 school run car journeys from the county’s roads last academic year. I can’t wait to see what we can all achieve next year.”

KM Walk to School has the backing of organisations including Kent County Council, Medway Council, Ashford Borough Council, Maidstone Borough Council, Orbit South, Golding Vision (part of Golding Homes), Leeds Castle, Circle Housing Russet, Whitefriars shopping area, Safer Kent, Bexley Council, Eurostar, Specsavers, Three R’s Teacher Recruitment and Mini Babybel.

Schools have until the end of this term to sign up to KM Walk to School services or literacy scheme Buster’s Book Club. For more information or to register, click on the links for WOW, Active Bug, Walking Bus or Buster's Book Club.