TOWN Hall chiefs at Warrington look set to approve an electric vehicle strategy for the borough as part of the drive to combat climate change and improve local air quality.
Borough council cabinet members will be asked to adopt the policy at their meeting on Monday.
In March last year, the Government launched a strategy that includes an expectation that local councils will develop an electric vehicle charge point strategy as an immediate priority.
A report to be presented to the cabinet on Monday by Cllr Hans Mundry, lead member for highways and transportation, says the council cannot take sole responsibility for developing electric vehicle charging as it is reliant on government and other potential funders and partners, interest and investment from the commercial sector and decisions made by individual residents and businesses.
However, the key role of the council and what the strategy seeks to do is show leadership and set out an action plan which targets council activity to the areas of greatest impact.
Objectives include:
Reducing carbon emissions in Warring ton, improving air quality.
Reducing single occupancy journeys, particularly short ones and moving towards an integrated transport network.
Recommended areas for action include the rollout of an electric taxi strategy, updating parking standards to encourage electric vehicle uptake,. encouraging the use of electric cargo bikes and e-scooters and renewing the council’s fleet of vehicles with electric vehicles.
Electric charge points should also be provided where there are gaps in commercial operators’ provision.
Work is already progressing. Sixty-eight charging points have been provided on new council developments.
A pilot project to provide street chargers where residents don’t have off-street parking will result in 30 charges in five locations.
A £695.000 Local Electric Vehicle grant to the council will provide 150 street chargers and four rapid charge hubs across the borough.
More than 1,490 plug-in cars and vans were registered in Warrington in December 2021 – 1.22 per cent of all cars and vans in the area, which is below the national average of 1.9 per cent. The number of terraced properties with no off-street parking and areas of relatively high deprivation is blamed for this.
The cabinet is being recommended to adopt the electric vehicle strategy to ensure Warrington keeps up with and is at the forefront of electric vehicle delivery.
But the report predicts it will be many years before most vehicles in the borough are electric, with the 50 per cent “crossover point” expected to come sometime between 2030 and 2035.
