Agenda item

To approve the Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Strategy (2022-2026).  

That the Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Strategy 2022-2026 be APPROVED.  

The Chair left and the Vice-Chair took the chair for the remainder of the meeting.

63.1           The report of the Asset Manager, circulated at Pages No. 84-102, presented the Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Strategy for approval which detailed how the Council would work in partnership with the County Council’s Electric Vehicle Strategy, planning policy and would signpost organisations to support the growth of electric vehicles through direct delivery for destination and on-route charging and supporting the rollout of charging infrastructure and other linked objectives. Members were asked to approve the strategy.

63.2           The Asset Manager explained that the strategy had been developed over the last eight months looking at all the data available in partnership with the Energy Saving Trust and the Climate Change and Flood Risk Management Group. The Council had an overarching vision to encourage use but also to understand that it could not make the differences required alone. It would ensure that Tewkesbury Borough was a welcoming place for electric vehicles. Some of the key measurable outcomes from the strategy were installation of electric vehicle charge points in public car parks; an increase in publicly accessible charge points; the percentage of on-street residents that were within five minutes’ walk of a charge point exceeding the national average; Tewkesbury Borough being viewed as a good destination for charging; and a shift away from petrol and diesel fuelled transport.

63.3           In terms of where people charged their vehicles, this was 60% at home; 30% in the workplace; and 10% at destination or enroute. The travel hierarchy was active travel – encourage wheeling and walking as the first preference for trips that needed to be made; public transport – where a longer trip was required public transport should be used; shared vehicles – if public transport was limited, the use of shared vehicles, preferably low carbon options, was encouraged; zero emission vehicles – for those trips that still needed to be made in private vehicles the shift should be towards electric vehicles. The strategy aimed to incentivise the use of electric vehicles by providing high quality facilities to support the adoption of electric vehicles with associated air quality and climate change benefits. In terms of local public charging points, Tewkesbury Borough’s points were scattered across the area including Tesco stores in Brockworth and Churchdown, Twigworth local centre, Shell petrol stations at Hucclecote and Little Witcombe plus a small number of hotels and restaurants. The current provision in Tewkesbury Borough was 31 charge points per 100,000 population which was similar to Stroud, Cheltenham and Gloucester. Cotswold District currently had 81 charge points per 100,000 and was in the top 20% of UK local authorities. The area to the south of the Borough was better served; however, there was currently no provision of public chargers within large populated areas such as Bishop’s Cleeve, Winchcombe and Northway, Twyning and other rural settlements. In terms of home charging on-street, Tewkesbury Borough was positioned worst in Gloucestershire with 96.7% currently outside of a five-minute walk to a public charger.  Having said that, Gloucestershire County Council was looking to roll out dual charging points in four sites within Tewkesbury Borough which would provide 16 charge points across all of those locations. There were BP Pulse charging points at the rear of the Council Offices building and Officers were working with the supplier to improve the availability of those points - the charging points must work and be available when needed as this was extremely important to tourists. The team was working on funding opportunities, particularly for on-street residential funding schemes for 2023/24, and it was hoped some funding would be secured. There were different operating models with some sites being more profitable but also more useful to users than others so this needed to be considered carefully and balanced across the whole portfolio.

63.4           Attention was drawn to Page No. 100 of the Agenda pack which set out the implementation plan and covered six objectives: objective 1 – Tewkesbury Borough Council would be installing charging points as per the strategic need of enroute and destination objectives – this would take place in two phases 1. Winchcombe and Tewkesbury public car parks and 2. other suitable sites as defined in the strategy; objective 2 – support Gloucester County Council’s on-street electric vehicle charging infrastructure roll out; objective 3 – promote electric vehicle usage within a transport hierarchy which reduced the need to travel and prioritised cleaner modes of transport such as walking and cycling; objective 4 – promoting the Council’s low carbon salary sacrifice purchase scheme; objective 5 – encourage full utilisation of existing publicly owned charge points; and objective 6 – continuous partnership working to explore latest technology in charge point provision incorporating smart charging, battery and renewables where financially viable.

63.5           During the discussion which ensued, a Member questioned how the strategy would be policed. In response, the Asset Manager explained that, from a car park point of view, there were regulations but, in general, this was something that Officers would be considering further. Some authorities made extra charges and gave fines for not parking in the correct bay etc. this was obviously more difficult in areas that were not car parks. Another Member questioned whether someone could reserve a spot and was advised that the Council was looking at seven 22kw units which took one to two hours to charge – Officers would look at usage and consider if more charging points were required. Accessibility of charging points also needed to be considered to ensure infrastructure could grow as needed. Referring to charging points already in place, a Member questioned whether the chargers could be used by everyone. In response, the Asset Manager explained that any electric vehicle could usually be charged at any point but some vehicles charged differently, e.g. Tesla, which was why they had their own charging points as well. Regarding the need for planning permission, the Head of Development Services indicated that she would confirm if it was necessary. A Member questioned whether people that used car park chargers had to pay for parking and charging. In response, the Asset Manager explained that this was what happened at the moment but may change going forward so any equipment would need to be future proofed to enable changes to be made as necessary.

63.6           Accordingly, it was