Charging rollout survey slammed

Royal Borough: Draft ‘rushed’ and not ready for release

The rollout of electric charging points in the Royal Borough came under fire again at a meeting of the council on Monday.

Electric vehicle charging points were installed at six on-street parking bays across Windsor and Maidenhead earlier this year, including College Road, Cromwell Road and Lower Boyndon Road.

A 10-year electric vehicle charge-point infrastructure plan is being drafted by the council and is set to go out to public consultation.

But this was called in by members of the place overview and scrutiny panel, on the grounds that it is ‘an incomplete document’.

They felt that the average resident might struggle to understand the implications of the plan.

Those who would understand would-be owners of electric cars – more likely to have ‘well-paid managerial roles’ and a ‘technology bias’.

The councillors calling in the draft plan flagged the ‘thousands of pounds’ that would be spent on a consultation ‘that isn’t going to give us the data we need’.

As such, the cabinet

‘needs to furnish itself with much more detail before it can consult’.

At the meeting, many councillors – both opposition and Conservative – raised concerns over the draft.

“For residents to express their thoughts, this needs to be far more detailed,” said Cllr Jon Davey (Ind, Clewer & Dedworth West).

Cllr John Baldwin (Lib Dem, Belmont) agreed, calling he document ‘thin on the bone’ and ‘woefully inadequate’.

He said it should show a table of data from the trial of the six EV charging points.

For example, there is ‘no information’ on which charging points are frequently used, or the charging time and parking implications, he said.

He added that the document does not cover ‘even

the most basic financial details’.

Cllr Baldwin felt the document would ‘bind the hands’ of future administrations and could be a ‘burden’ for those to come.

“I’m astonished that cabinet unanimously adopted [the plan], simply delegating it to the lead member and responsible officer,” he said.

“[That] seems to leave open an enormous scope for policy error.”

Three councillors raised the point that more charging points could use up ‘massive amounts of electricity’ from the national grid that is not readily available.

Councillors also wondered why hydrogen cars were not factored into the estimation of a move away from petrol vehicles.

Chris Joyce, the borough’s head of infrastructure, sustainability and economic growth, said that at the moment there is ‘not a significant market’ for hydrogen cars.

Cllr Greg Jones (Con, Riverside) raised concerns that if different operators run different charging points, there could be price differences – creating a risk of people ‘charging up around the corner’ rather than on their street.

This could create more parking woes for residents, who are already ‘defensive’ of spaces, he said.

Mr Joyce gave reassurances that the Borough anticipates ‘consistency’ in pricing between charging points.

Cllr Gurch Singh (Lib Dem, St Mary’s) felt the Borough could have been working on this plan earlier and was concerned that the delay could mean the Borough might miss an important deadline for future funding pots.

Mr Joyce explained that the plan was a result of a recent ‘Government push’ for councils to construct their own implementation plans.

Opposition councillors questioned the wisdom of sending the draft document out to public consultation without a clearer picture of what they were being asked to consider.

“We seem to be asking residents what the policy should be,” said Cllr Baldwin.

In the end, it was agreed that the final draft plan should be sent to councillors before public consultation. The panel voted for this unanimously.