Agenda item

Officers have been exploring opportunities to install Electric Vehicle Charge Points (EVCP) in council owned car parks using external government grants and/or Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) funding and a decision was made at the General Public Services and Economic Development Committee in March 2024 to progress a scheme.  The Electric Vehicle Charging Strategy sits alongside and develops these proposals further for the provision of a publicly available electric vehicle charging network and details the Council’s future rollout of EV charging infrastructure.

This report provides an update on the development of the Electric Vehicle Charging Strategy including the key findings from the public consultation on the draft Strategy and proposes a final Strategy for adoption.

Recommendation

That:

i)        Members agree the Electric Vehicle Charging Strategy for adoption; and

ii)       Members agree that the Strategy is progressed to Full Council for final adoption.

The Chair invited Tom Rankin, the Principal Sustainable Travel Planner and Transport Officer to present the report. The Officer explained that the report initially focused on town centre and car park charging, before moving to on-street solutions. He noted that several projects were already underway, which had been funded by Community Infrastructure Levy and external grant funding. A public consultation had been held in the summer on the plans for further expansion of charging, the outcomes of which were included within the report.

Councillor Sarah Nelmes, as the lead member, commended the strategy to the committee, which, if agreed, would be referred to Council for adoption. She noted the agreement of the strategy would facilitate the development of a roadmap, setting out how the strategy would be implemented.

The Chair invited members to debate the item. A wide range of questions were asked primarily relating to the grant funding arrangements; potential loss of parking spaces; how on-street charging provision could be achieved; how the contract arrangements with charging operators would work, including the fees payable and maintenance arrangements, and whether security would need to be enhanced in the car parks. In response, officers confirmed the grant funding arrangements, and that options such as the use of gulleys were being explored for on-street parking. It was difficult to predict the level of demand for chargers but charging rates would be established within the contracts. Contractors would be responsible for the charging units, but the Council would maintain responsibility for the underground connecting infrastructure helping potential future-proofing risks. Security enhancements would require additional funding but the Council would work with Parishes to assess need. Officers further confirmed the arrangements for securing sufficient power from the power networks.

During the debate Chris Mitchell proposed an amendment to attach an action plan to the strategy which would enable members to monitor how it was being delivered. Following confirmation from the Chair of the intention to bring forward a report to the General Public Services, Community Safety and Infrastructure Committee in due course with a roadmap and action plan to deliver the strategy, Councillor Mitchell withdrew the amendment.

Councillor Cooper expressed his concern regarding the potential loss of car parking spaces. He believed it was important that rapid chargers were accessible to users passing through towns, however there could be less demand for slower chargers in the day and proposed an amendment to 5.1 of the strategy so that:

“Spaces next to rapid or ultra rapid chargers are generally expected to be reserved for electric vehicles. However, other spaces - such as fast chargers - should not be reserved solely for electric vehicles, to minimise the loss of parking spaces to users of other vehicles.”

The amendment was debated. Concern was raised that firstly, this may not comply with the terms of grant funding available or obtained by the council; that this may deter companies seeking to install chargers as it could result in a loss of income, and thirdly, that people may be deterred from purchasing an electric vehicle or using local chargers if spaces were not available.

In response, Councillor Cooper highlighted a number of other Councils who had taken this approach, and so considered that his suggestion still was merited. Appreciating the points raised, he proposed a revised amendment to read:

“Spaces next to rapid or ultra rapid chargers are generally expected to be reserved for electric vehicles. However, other spaces - such as fast chargers - should, where possible, not be reserved solely for electric vehicles, to minimise the loss of parking spaces to users of other vehicles”

The amendment was seconded by Councillor Vicky Edwards, who specifically referred to the proposals in Abbots Langley. She noted that the positioning of the electric vehicle charging spaces were important, and if they were placed towards the back of the car park, this may mean users only use the electric vehicle charging spaces when there were no other spaces available.

The Chair confirmed that whilst the Council could consider Councillor Cooper’s proposal, he would want to understand the potential impacts on grant funding as identified by members of the committee and would also want any consideration to include why authorities have elected to restrict spaces to electric vehicles only before committing to bringing such proposals forward alongside the action plan. Had the proposal been brought forward at an earlier stage, it could have been considered within the emerging strategy.

The amendment was put to the vote and with 5 votes in favour and 12 against, was DEFEATED.

The substantive motion was put to the vote and with 12 votes in favour and 5 abstentions, it was RESOLVED to:

i)      Agree the Electric Vehicle Charging Strategy for adoption; and

ii)     Agree that the Strategy is progressed to Full Council for final adoption.