Two Dorset holiday parks are reducing their environmental impact via a range of new energy saving initiatives.

Warmwell, located near Weymouth and Dorchester on the B3390, and Sandford, in Poole, are both owned by operator Parkdean Resorts.

The work will see more than 1,200 solar panels installed at the two parks to enable them to start generating their own energy.

Set to be fully installed and functional by January at Sandford, and by February at Warmwell, the new solar panels will be located on top of the main complex roofing.

Electric car charging facilities have also been introduced at the two resorts, while a total of 25 diesel vans will be replaced with electric vans as part of the trial.

The new vans are expected to save about 21.5 tonnes of carbon at the parks per year, the equivalent of planting more than 85 trees.

Jane Bates, director of sustainability at Parkdean Resorts, said: “These new projects are really exciting and important steps forward for us as a business, and the trials will give us a great opportunity to test, learn and start to understand how we can reduce our energy usage. 

“We want to put sustainability at the heart of staycations at Parkdean Resorts, and we’re committed to caring for our people, parks and planet, so we’re really excited to see the results of the trials next year and to implement these findings into our future decision-making.”

Parkdean Resorts says it has committed to achieve a 25 per cent reduction in carbon emissions by the year 2025. 

A number of the business’ holiday parks also recently participated in the Great British Beach Clean, a week-long event run by the Marine Conservation Society to keep the country's seas litter free.