National Lottery cash of £34,000 is going towards encouraging the use of environmentally-friendly transport.

The Hanover Sustainable Travel project will include a car-sharing club and provide electrically-assisted bikes and other cycles for rent in the Hanover area of Brighton.

It will run classes on safe cycling and maintenance and give information on public transport and bike routes.

The cost of the project is £55,000, with most of the remaining money coming from an agreement with the developers of a housing scheme in Hanover negotiated by Brighton and Hove City Council.

Sustrans, the national cycle track building charity, and the council are providing professional aid while the Hanover Community Association is also helping to run the project.

Once the car-share club has been set up, members will have a choice of new cars they can hire for local journeys, even for periods as short as an hour.

Similar clubs operate in other British cities such as Edinburgh, Bristol, Leeds and Coventry. In European cities such as Munich they have been running for many years.

Mark Strong, co-ordinator of the community association's transport group, said: "This project will make a real difference to people who want to cut down on their car use."

Labour councillor Joyce Edmond-Smith first proposed the car-share club two years ago and welcomed the funding.

She helped get the housing cash but said: "That was never going to be enough to establish the club properly, let alone all the other worthwhile schemes."