PARTS of Worcester could miss out on electric vehicle charging points because of options not being considered by the county council.
That’s the view of city council officers and councillors, who say a lack of off-street parking in the city means there are limited solutions available.
Worcestershire County Council’s cabinet approved draft plans for a £3.5 million investment in electric vehicle charging infrastructure in June.
But the county council has said it won’t consider using cable gullies – channels dug into the pavement used to trail EV charging cables.
A report put before members of Worcester City Council’s Environment committee said: “This is understood to be due to the concerns around maintenance, cleaning and potential damage to the structural integrity of the footway.
“This has a significant impact on the ability to deliver charge points in many areas of the city.”
Cllr Richard Udall said in a meeting last week: “I’m struggling to understand the intelligence of the county council when they continue to say no to cable gullies.
“If we’re going to have people having electric vehicles in a place like Worcester where so many people do not have off-road parking, you need to have the ability to charge the vehicle close to your home.
“And the only way of physically doing that is through cable gullies. It’s not been a problem for every other local authority in the country – it’s just Worcestershire standing alone as far as I can see.
“As long as this continues, we will not have the ability to change the structure of vehicles in the city from petrol and diesel to electric.
“There are 2,000 houses within five minutes’ walk of St John’s Church without off-street parking – a huge amount of people who will not be able to access an electric vehicle.”
Cllr Hannah Cooper said: “This feels like we’re in an air quality management area and the county council are not taking this seriously.
“This is a public health emergency almost. We have to be seen to be doing something and they are holding us back.”
She said there are residents’ parking areas around Arboretum that could be utilised to also provide electric charging points but the county council’s strategy is “too weak”.
Cllr Karen Lewing said the county council’s document “doesn’t work for Worcester”.
Marc Bayliss, Worcestershire County Council’s cabinet member for highways and transport, said: “We continue to work alongside our district council partners to develop our draft Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure (EVCI) Strategy.
“The strategy focusses on how we plan to roll out electrical vehicle charging using funding specifically allocated to Worcestershire for this purpose.
“The draft strategy is out to consultation until September and we welcome comments from residents, businesses and partners to help us to shape this.
“We will review the outcome of trials taking place nationally with other local authorities before finalising our position on cable gullies.
“We will also be considering factors such as safety for other users of the footway, the impact on maintenance as well as any negative impacts on parking for all highway users.”
(Worcester News 29 July 2024)