New electric car charging points are planned for the Ards and North Down area.
At the local council’s meeting of its Environment Committee earlier this week, elected representatives noted a report by council officers planning 15 new charge points across the borough. The decision comes as a result of a successful application to access a new £20 million funding pot from the UK government known as the On Street Residential Charge Points Scheme.
The fund is only available to local authorities, and covers 75 percent of the costs of procuring and installing the charge points on streets - this is to reflect GB government structure where local authorities are in control of streets. NI councils are not in control of streets, but can apply for the grant to install charging points in council car parks, where the service is available 24 hours a day.
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Ards and North Down has successfully acquired funding for 15 new EV charging points in the following spots:
- Holborn Square, Bangor x two points
- Central Avenue, Bangor
- Bingham Lane, Bangor
- Ann Street, Newtownards x two points
- Kennel Lane, Newtownards x two points
- West Street, Newtownards
- Mill Street Gasworks, Newtownards x two points
- Church Road, Holywood x two points
- Manor Street, Donaghadee
- Meeting House Street, Portaferry
Stormont’s Department for Infrastructure last year said it will cover the outstanding 25 percent of costs that NI council’s would otherwise be obliged to pay following a successful application to the fund. Derry City and Strabane Council created a NI wide database for potential charging sites, and led the successful joint application by nine of NI’s 11 councils to the UK government.
An EV Consortium Working Group was also established last year to facilitate the improvement of NI council’s EV charging infrastructure, with involvement from a number of public stakeholders including Stormont, the councils, the Housing Executive, and Sustainable NI.
The Ards and North Down Council report states: “Council officers focused upon suitable council owned car parks, as those were deemed to be electric vehicle charge point sites that were most readily deliverable by the council with the minimum of impediments and timeframes required.”
It adds: “Key considerations in discussions were: proximity to residential properties that do not have access to off street parking, and therefore convenient home electric vehicle charging options; and the size of the car park and if the location was already serviced by charge points and/or was on the list of potential locations the EU FASTER project.
“The list was then assessed by NIE in terms of feasibility and current infrastructure suitability.”
124 EV charge points have been agreed across Northern Ireland with the Derry and Strabane-led application. The councils involved are currently going throught tender processes to choose charge point operators.
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