A move to spend up to £7 million over the next three years to improve electric vehicle charging in north and West Cumbria has been approved by councillors.
Members of Cumberland Council’s highways and transport strategic board met at Allerdale House in Workington on Thursday to discuss the matter.
The authority said the Cumberland area currently had around 30 electric vehicle charging points across its area in off-street carparks, but the majority were out of contract or would be by the end of 2026.
Councillors were told the majority were not fit for purpose due to their age and condition.
By 2030, 9,000 EV charging points would be needed.
The Government has announced the £450 million Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Fund, to accelerate commercialisation of local, close to home charging, which includes both capital funding and resource funding.
The council’s Cumberland Electric Vehicle Strategy 2024-2026 was approved in April last year and it focuses on four key areas:
- Densely urban residential streets where there is limited access to private driveways for home charging;
- Rural communities where low demand makes commercial investment less viable;
- Popular visitor destinations with longer dwell times and potential for commercial charging solutions;
- Larger car parks that may support a mix of public and commercial charging provision.
More investment from private operators is also expected.
Councillor Roger Dobson (Corby and Hayton, Lib Dems) welcomed news that chargers would be placed in schools and Councillor Denise Rollo (Harrington, Labour), the sustainable, resilient and connected places portfolio holder, proposed they agreed the recommendations which was agreed.
According to a report, the council will appoint two concessionaires for the provision, operation and maintenance of electric vehicle charging infrastructure for public use across the council area under a 15-year concession contract, running from 2025-2040 with no extension.
The report added: “A 15-year contract is advised by OZEV and is the standard contract length for such contracts. The contract value is £7 million, comprising £3.465 million in grant funding secured by the council, with the remaining investment provided by the appointed concessionaires.”
The report said permission to procure was granted by the executive committee by way of written tender on April 8, and the remit of the contract was to make sure a minimum of 70 per cent of Cumberland Council residents, without access to off-street parking would have a ≤22kW charger within a five-minute walk of their home.
It is expected that the contract will go out for tender next month.
