A raft of new on-street electric vehicle chargers are set to be installed across Northumberland, adding to the county's already impressive tally.
With 198 devices across the area, there are currently more than 61 EV chargers per 100,000 residents in Northumberland - the highest of any area in the North East and in the top 20% for England as a whole, according to the Department for Transport.
But Northumberland County Council is not stopping there, after the installation of 225 more chargers over the next three years was approved by the council's cabinet.
The council say the charge points will be installed at locations which will best meet the needs of both residents and visitors. It is part of an ambition for Northumberland to become carbon neutral by 2030, with an aim of 30% of cars owned in Northumberland to be EVs in order to reach that target.
Council leader, Glen Sanderson said: “This is great news as it will help encourage our residents to make the switch to EV and become more environmentally friendly.
“Around 23,000 households in Northumberland do not have access to off-road parking and would struggle to charge an EV without this dedicated infrastructure. Having these publicly available charge points will allow EVs to become a viable and attractive option for many more of our residents - not just those with off-street parking.
”Although certain policy decisions, such as the ban on the sale of new internal combustion engine cars, will encourage more EVs, many barriers still exist and we need to remove these as much as possible to help support the transition to EV, which will ultimately improve our county for the better.”
Speaking at the meeting, Coun John Riddle - who represents the rural Bellingham ward - said the installation of a charger in the village had proved beneficial. As cabinet member for local services, he also praised the council's in-house team that were installing the devices.
He said: "I'm very pleased and grateful that we have a fast charger in Bellingham. It is a tourist area and people want to have a cup of tea - and charge their car!
"When we started this we had another company doing this for us and we're now doing it in house. The expertise and the quality that we have in house should be recognised and we should thank our staff."
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