Electric vehicle charging

On-street charging points are being installed at sites across Gloucestershire by the County Council through a contract with a commercial company.

Residents living nearby were consulted as were all the local county councillors in the areas proposed for EVCPs. Lib Dem Cllr Gill Moseley representing Newent emphasised in her response the almost unanimous view that the Lake car park would be a better location. It is hoped that people will recognise that these EVCPs will help improve the local network for electric vehicles which are helping to reduce the use of fossil fuels and at the same time, help improve air quality.

However, this round of government grant funding is for on-street parking only, mainly for residents who have no other access to EVCPs. The charging rate is 7kW which is slow and generally used for overnight charging.  Gill comments: "One hour would give an average range of 30 miles, but up to four hours would be more useful for shoppers and  visitors with the possibility of increasing the footfall in the towns where they are installed."

"The plan is to put up signs to prevent non-electric vehicles from parking in half of the allocated bays in Church Street, Newent but not yet, until it is clear how much use is being made of the charging points." 

Connected Kerb is the contractor throughout the county and data will be available through their system for monitoring.  Public access is via an app. 

Gill added: "Good luck reading the knee-high poster wrapped around the post used to mount the charging points in Newent!  The time allowed will be four hours rather than the one hour-limit that is the standard in this spot. This will impact on the available space for Newent shoppers and visitors not in need of EVCPs who want to use a one-hour free parking slot.  We shall be watching with interest how that affects local trade."

Meanwhile, in the north of the District,  faster chargers are available at Three Shires Garden Centre and at Gorsley Community Shop, just over the Herefordshire border. Talks are starting to bring ideas together about the Lewall St (Lake) District-owned Newent car park Sadly, the FoDDC withdrew its intended plans for faster EVCP installation in its main car parks as being too costly, some time ago.

Very few projects are simple or quick when it involves local government, but understanding the constraints, funding and impact is important, as is consultaton with local people,  who are also among those who foot the bill, one way or another, through taxes.

Finally, Gill says "I would challenge Gloucestershire County Council's recent claims to be in the forefront of rolling out charging points.  Statistics suggest a very different story.  That's for another time...."