Agenda item

To consider the draft Strategy and approve its release for consultation prior to formal adoption. 

Recommendation:

That Members agree to:

       i.          Approve the draft EV strategy for a 6-week period of public consultation

      ii.          For the final strategy to be presented to a future GPSSCI Committee and subsequent P&R Committee for consideration and adoption.

Tom Rankin, Sustainable Transport Officer, presented the report and explained that the Electric Vehicle (EV) Strategy follows on from Hertfordshire County Councils’ (HCC) EV Strategy, published in 2023. It also builds upon Three Rivers District Council’s (TRDC) updated Climate and Sustainability Strategy published in 2024.

The Strategy mainly focused on the delivery of publicly available chargers and priority had been given to town centre car parks, business car parks and on-street parking. A mixture of fast and rapid chargers had been proposed.

All costs were expected to be covered by Government funding and contributions from the charging point operators.

A Member enquired about the timescales for the roll out of EV chargers. The officer explained that the National On-Street Residential Charging Point Scheme (ORCS) was currently in the contractual stage with the possibility of installation later this year.

A Member asked about the infrastructure costs of the fast chargers and infrastructure chargers. The officer explained that all car parks were subject to the Designated Operating Cost (DOC). Some car parks had been effectively ruled out due to the DOC cost. Charging point holders were beholden to provide 98% uptime and open-source data as to when a charger was available or no longer working. Therefore, if travelling to a charger, it was assured to be working and available.

A Member raised a question concerning paragraph 5.5 of the Strategy regarding LEVI grant funding and ORCS grant funding. The officer explained that the priority had been to focus on car parks near residential areas or areas where people would be visiting to benefit the maximum amount of people. Work was also taking place on high street parking which involved the Highway Authority, HCC, which was where the LEVI fund was best suited to. LEVI was stricter in terms of the requirements for on-street parking. It was also a larger pot of money. The priority was to make use of the Council’s funding where it had the most influence and could be used to best affect. This was the Council’s own car parks in highly populated areas. It also makes EV charging more viable for the operator.

A Member asked how much the ORCS grant was and if the Council regretted not bidding on it before the £200,000 cap. The Chair said that she would provide a written response to the question.

A Member commented that a total of 92 chargers was not a very ambitious quantity particularly when compared to neighbouring Local Authorities. The officer explained that the Council had blended funds to make the chargers as cost effective as possible. There was a significant contribution from the operators themselves as the Council had opted for a concession contract. Therefore, the EV chargers were good value for money for the residents. The geographical location of the chargers was important and whether they were rapid chargers. In some areas of the district there were high levels of off-street parking where residents were able to install their own chargers. HCC had a mapping tool which identified areas without off-street parking and these areas were a priority for chargers and that would be supported by the LEVI Fund. The Council had been allocated approximately 130,000 chargers as part of the LEVI Fund.

A Member requested that disabled parking was not removed to accommodate the EV chargers near to buildings.

The officer explained that there were no proposals to remove disabled bays and EV chargers were being offered in disabled bays. As a Council it was critical to not only consider the availability of chargers but also those required for people with mobility issues.

A Member commented that there were many supermarkets in the area that provided EV charging.

A Member asked when the consultation period would begin. The officer said that it would be imminent and confirmed that it would not run wholly through the school holiday period.

RESOLVED: that the General Public Services, Community Safety and Infrastructure Committee

       i.          approved the draft EV strategy for a 6-week period of public consultation,

      ii.          agreed for the final strategy to be presented to a future GPSSCI Committee and subsequent P&R Committee for consideration and adoption.