Issue - meetings

That:

1)               the initial small-scale rollout of approximately 36 on-street residential EV chargepoints be approved, subject to a local engagement exercise once preferred sites have been identified;

2)               the provision of EV chargepoints in Council-owned car parks be approved;

3)               £66,000 of capital borrowing be approved to fund the Council’s 25% investment subject to securing the remaining 75% through Government funding; this borrowing will be recovered through revenues generated by the project;

4)               it be noted that Wokingham Borough Council would be the owner and operator of the EV chargepoints but the maintenance would be undertaken by an external supplier with expertise in this sector. All costs related to maintenance and management will be covered by the external supplier following a procurement exercise; 

5)               it be noted that the award of the contract for supplier will be dependent on achieving the financial estimations detailed within this report, ensuring zero net cost to the Council; 

6)               it be noted that a further report will be presented to the Executive for approval following an initial 18-month period of operation of the on-street chargepoints to review effectiveness and summarise lessons learned to inform into the future EV strategy.

The Executive considered a report relating to the installation of EV chargepoints for on-street residential and Council-owned car parks.

The report was introduced by the Deputy Executive Member for Equalities, Poverty, the Arts and Climate Emergency who went through the recommendations as set out in the report.  Councillor Blumenthal highlighted that information obtained from the Department for Transport stated that 80% of all EV charging happened at home.  Following a survey of Wokingham residents it was found that 83% of residents, who responded, expressed their preference for charging their EVs most of the time at home where they park overnight.  The proposal was all about increasing accessibility and being more inclusive, especially as not everyone had access to off street parking, by increasing the number of public chargepoints in the Borough.  It was noted that 75% of the funding would be coming from central Government.

The Executive Member for Highways and Transport explained that there were some limitations as to where EV chargepoints could be positioned on streets as they were dependent on the location of streetlamps for power.  If the project was successful it was hoped to instal more in the future.

Councillor Kaiser stated that there was often confusion around plug-in sites and therefore he wanted to ensure that the chargepoints would be easy to use with payment by credit card.  Councillor Jorgensen confirmed that the Government had recently announced legislation that would make every EV chargepoint contact-less, force developers to put EV chargers in new homes and also force industrial sites, where major redevelopments had taken place with more than 10 parking spaces, to include EV chargepoints.

Councillor Margetts stated that it was often difficult to find where charging points were located and wanted to ensure that these new chargepoints would be widely publicised. 

RESOLVED that:

1)               the initial small-scale rollout of approximately 36 on-street residential EV chargepoints be approved, subject to a local engagement exercise once preferred sites have been identified;

2)               the provision of EV chargepoints in Council-owned car parks be approved;

3)               £66,000 of capital borrowing be approved to fund the Council’s 25% investment subject to securing the remaining 75% through Government funding; this borrowing will be recovered through revenues generated by the project;

4)               it be noted that Wokingham Borough Council would be the owner and operator of the EV chargepoints but the maintenance would be undertaken by an external supplier with expertise in this sector. All costs related to maintenance and management will be covered by the external supplier following a procurement exercise; 

5)               it be noted that the award of the contract for supplier will be dependent on achieving the financial estimations detailed within this report, ensuring zero net cost to the Council; 

6)               it be noted that a further report will be presented to the Executive for approval following an initial 18-month period of operation of the on-street chargepoints to review effectiveness and summarise lessons learned to inform into the future EV strategy.