North Yorkshire Council urged to set on-street electric vehicle charging policy to help Knaresborough residents

North Yorkshire Council’s executive member for transport, Councillor Keane Duncan, said while the authority was examining various options, its current position over the most requested cross pavement solution was that trailing cables were not allowed as they would cause obstructions.

Coun Duncan was responding to Knaresborough councillor Hannah Gostlow raising concerns over the issue, particularly following the authority withdrawing its Co-wheels electric car sharing scheme in the town with large areas of historic terraced housing.

Coun Gostlow said while the car sharing scheme was dropped as it was costing the authority too much, it had served to reduce the need for vehicles.

The Liberal Democrat member said with a sharp rise in electric vehicle ownership, particularly in the former Harrogate borough, she was pushing for a pro-active approach from the council as mounting numbers of residents needed affordable charging solutions.

She said: “I think it needs a more positive approach. I feel councillors, officers and residents are keen to move in that direction and I would like a draft policy to be put before the council’s members.”

David Tonge, of Thirsk Friends of the Earth, said overnight home charging rates available from some suppliers were a fraction of the cost of charging EVs at public facilities.

He said: “It is going to be a big disincentive to get an EV if you can only charge it at the commercial rates available when you are travelling.”

Some councils are offering to dig covered channels across pavements to enable drivers to charge EVs outside their home. However, the channels cost about £1,000 to install.

Although some councils have installed fast chargers on street corners, City of York Council has rejected that solution and stated its aim is to provide charge points within a ten-minute walk for significant areas of properties without off-street parking.

Nevertheless, Coun Duncan said there were “many options”, including cable gullies, mats and lamp column chargers to consider and with the variety of places in the county, such as terraced streets, villages and national parks there would not be a one size fits all solution.

He said the authority was aware it needed to reach an adopted position on a preferred on-street charging soon to maintain the pace of EV growth in the county.

Key challenges in finding solutions were around liability, maintenance, accessibility, affordability and equality, he added.

Coun Duncan said: “We are monitoring the national picture regarding on-street charging.

“We are aware of numerous trials going on around the country for solutions such as cable gullies, none of which have yet concluded with a definitive outcome of success or failure.

“It is worth noting that there are no other UK local authorities with a formally adopted on-street charging policy at this time, though some have opted to allow trailing cables with use of a cable mat that is licenced by the authority.”