A debacle over Newcastle’s “decrepit” electric vehicle (EV) charging points risks damaging the city’s green ambitions, city leaders have been told.
Council chiefs have been urged to take action to improve the number of functioning stations in Newcastle, after years of complaints about public charging points being out of action. Liberal Democrat councillor Greg Stone accused North East authorities of a “serious policy failure” this week, telling colleagues that he had been informed more than a year ago that much of Newcastle’s broken EV technology tech was obsolete and unable to be maintained due to a lack of spare parts or funding.
Earlier this year, the leaders approved a new North East Zero Emission Vehicle Policy which stated that the number of EV chargers in the region would need to increase from just 800 to as many as 28,000 over the coming years to meet a rapidly accelerating demand. But Coun Stone revealed at a Newcastle City Council meeting on Wednesday that a procurement exercise for a 15-year contract to maintain and expand the North East’s charging network was “so onerous and so poorly structured” that it failed to attract even a single bid.
Read More: North East needs 28,000 electric car charging points to meet demand – but can power grid handle it?
He added: “Given the importance of supporting the transition to ultra-low emission vehicles to meet 2030 net zero aspirations and increasing the supply of accessible public charging infrastructure, the Lib Dem opposition is concerned at the failure of the Joint Transport Committee, Transport North East, and NEPO (North East Procurement Organisation) to identify a viable procurement solution. A lot of public money and time has been expended but we seem to be no further forward. Months of problems are turning into years.”
Several Lib Dems asked the Labour-run council to invest in tech that would allow electric vehicles to be plugged into lamp posts, while Ouseburn councillor Gareth Kane claimed that the “decrepit state of the EV charging network is symptomatic of eight years of drift”.
Coun Paul Frew, the council’s cabinet member for finance, replied that the delays to the region-wide contract had been “unfortunate” but that the offer was being restructured before retendering begins. He also confirmed that transport officials had looked at installing EV technology in street lights but it would be “very complicated and very difficult to do”.
The Labour councillor told the Local Democracy Reporting Service after the meeting that the Lib Dems “did not establish a maintenance programme” for EV points installed when they ran the council pre-2011 and pointed to swingeing budget cuts to local government imposed since that time.
He added: "To be very clear, Newcastle City Council is not the lead on this procurement process. We are engaging closely with NEPO. We have had confirmation from NEPO that the new framework will be retendered imminently, their aim is for the end of October. This framework is a huge deal for the North East, so it has to be done right.”
Coun Jane Byrne, the cabinet member for transport, said she shared Coun Stone’s frustration and that the council was “keen to move forward”, but a regional solution was the best way to do so. She added that rapid EV chargers are being installed in Gosforth and at the Helix, as well as for taxis in the city centre.
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