The Cabinet Member for Climate and Ecological Emergency introduced the report which presented the draft Electric Vehicle Strategy 2022-2030 as set-out at Appendix I of the report.  The report clarified the Council’s position on the EV charging infrastructure, including the debate between on and off-street charging.  The Cabinet Member for Climate and Ecological Emergency said that the Strategy gave a vision for the provision of EV chargers to encourage people to use cleaner vehicles in Swale.  He said that the Strategy contributed to the Climate and Ecology Emergency and managing air quality, and the Council’s approach was to lead by example and had switched its own fleet of vehicles to EVs.  The Council also encouraged its contractors to change to EVs as per the Council’s new Grounds Maintenance Contract. 

The Cabinet Member for Climate and Ecological Emergency said that there were EV chargers in all three of Swale’s major towns and the Council could monitor their usage.   To ensure that areas with no off-street parking were not disadvantaged the Council was liaising with KCC about provision of EV chargers from streetlamps and closely monitoring installation of cable gullies which was being trialled in other areas.  The Cabinet Member for Climate and Ecological Emergency drew attention to paragraph 2.30 of the report which set-out the five objectives of the Strategy and paragraph 2.9 of the report which set-out questions for Members to consider.

Members were invited to ask questions.

Points and questions raised by Members included:

·         When would EV chargers be installed in Queenborough?;

·         agreed with the stated objectives of the Strategy;

·         asked the Cabinet Member for Climate and Ecological Emergency to pursue lamp post charging with KCC;

·         the Council should explore free car parking for EV users;

·         when considering planning applications the Council should insist that EV charging points were installed;

·         installing EV charges in lamp columns would be an incentive to people to purchase EVs;

·         were the EV charging bays in the Council’s car parks specifically marked for EV use?

·         were the Council’s wardens asked to issue fines for anyone parking in an EV bay that did not have an EV?;

·         welcomed adequate EV charging points at visitor centres in the Borough but it needed to be advertised;

·         more could be done to exclude HGVs from roads they did not need to use;

·         referred to the diagram on page 49 of the report which outlined the distribution of EVs throughout Kent and noted that the level purchased in affluent areas was higher.  Did the Cabinet Member for Climate and Ecological Emergency think that those getting EVs was cost led?;

·         referred to private residential EV charging points on the zap-map and asked how this worked?

·         what incentives were being made to taxi companies for in-town usage of EVs?; and

·         did the Cabinet Member for Climate and Ecological Emergency consider that the increased cost of electricity would be a factor with the take-up of EVs?

In response the Cabinet Member for Climate and Ecological Emergency explained that the Council were guided by data and density of areas with a lack of off-street parking in terms of providing EV chargers.  The Head of Environment and Leisure said that they would be keeping a close eye on Queenborough and would be looking at that in the next tranche of installations.  He advised that the Council were looking to make some applications to a government scheme for EV charging and would be looking at the criteria to choose the most suitable locations for EV chargers.

The Cabinet Member for Climate and Ecological Emergency said that the Council could, via the planning process, support EV charging especially in key strategic areas.  He said that the Council could look at EV users paying a lower fee for car parking in the Borough and noted that people could charge their vehicles overnight in council car parks as they was no charge for overnight parking.  The Cabinet Member for Climate and Ecological Emergency confirmed that EV bays in Council car parks were marked off and could only be used by EVs that were plugged in and charging.   He explained how the zap-map app worked and said that it identified all chargers in an area.  Several Members spoke positively on the app and a Member also suggested the ‘Need to Charge’ app which he thought should also be promoted at EV charging sites. 

The Climate Change Officer spoke about the Kent Realising Electric Vans Scheme (REVS) which allowed local businesses to borrow commercial EVs for a trial period and if they liked the EV they could purchase it interest free.  The Climate Change Officer reported that currently Swale had the best take-up of the scheme in Kent with 25 businesses trialling and three taking up the offer of the loan. 

The Cabinet Member for Climate and Ecological Emergency said that with regard to taxis the Council’s new Licencing Policy was an opportunity to encourage taxi operators to move towards EVs.  He was aware of a Government grant scheme to assist with this but acknowledged that it was not his area to change but he was liaising with the Cabinet Member for Community about it.