Town must close ‘gap’ in electric car charging
ALACK of charging points for electric cars could impact Macclesfield town centre if it continues - but steps could be taken to rectify this.
Richard Hibbert, head of strategic transport and parking at Cheshire East Council, said there are ‘extensive gaps in current provision’ in the borough.
He told a highways and transport committee that this was particularly the case in the Macclesfield area as well as other towns where house do not have off street parking.
This was said as part of a discussion on the borough’s electric vehicle charging strategy.
It was said installing charging points in car parks would encourage people to buy electric vehicles, improve the environment and could be a money spinner for the council.
Mr Hibbert told the committee that in 2020 there were 2,100 electric cars registered with private users in the borough, a number likely to grow because of the ban on selling new petrol and diesel cars from 2030.
The report to the committee acknowledged that, although the council has invested in providing some electric vehicle charge points ‘ there are extensive gaps in current provision’.
Mr Hibbert said because most council car parks were in prime town centre locations this was ideal for charging points.
“I would be optimistic we could enter into this at no real cost to the authority, it might even be a revenue earner for the authority,” he said.
“We need to go through that commercial procurement exercise to get to that position.”
A small step in the right direction came when company the Electric Vehicle Network submitted a planning application for eight electric vehicle charging bays and four charging points at Black Lane, Macclesfield.
This was submitted last month and will be ruled on by mid-August.
Councillor Mike Sewart, Poynton West and Adlington, told the meeting: “I represent an area that’s got a lot of houses that open directly on to a road, they’re not going to be able to have a charging point. We have to cater for those people. “
He said putting the charge points in the council’s car parks would help boost the town centres.
“If we want to maintain footfall in our town centres we’ve got to cater for people taking their cars in and being able to charge these machines,” said Coun Sewart.
He said some supermarket chains were installing charging points but most of these are out of town sites so, which could ‘ make our town centres even emptier than they are now’.
Coun Mike Hunter, Middlewich ward, said this could be a real income generator for the council at a time when it most needed it.
He said: “It places us in pole position because of the car park estates that we own. We need to make sure we take advantage of those opportunities. If we don’t, we’re diddling ourselves out of money basically.”
The committee unanimously approved the draft Cheshire East electric vehicles infrastructure strategy as a basis for consultation and engagement.It also approved a market testing exercise for a concession approach to delivering electric vehicles charging infrastructure.