Decision details

To seek approval to become accountable body and enter into a funding agreement for grant funding of up to £84,230 from the Office for Zero Emission Vehicles (OZEV) through the On-Street Residential Chargepoint Scheme (ORCS).

The grant funding is for the purpose of installing on-street chargepoints, in areas lacking off-street parking opportunities, for local residents wishing to charge their plug-in electric vehicles.

(a)      The Council becoming the accountable body and accepting up to £84,230 of grant funding, and

(b)      The Council entering into a grant funding agreement with the Office for Zero Emission Vehicles (OZEV).

The option proposed offers the Council access to grant funding to part-fund capital costs relating to the procurement and installation of residential chargepoint infrastructure.

The proposed option offers the Council the opportunity of testing and learning about the processes involved in the installation of on-street residential chargepoints, the steps necessary and potential obstacles, before committing to a larger scale rollout of chargepoint infrastructure.

The option proposed supports the Council in delivering on the key issue of the Climate Emergency and supporting the Clean Air Zone, which necessitates a move away from the use of traditional fossil fuels to cleaner technologies, such as electric vehicles.

Option 1 – Not accepting the funding offer from OZEV. This was discounted since bidding for On Street Residential Chargepoint Scheme (ORCS) funding, to test a limited number of residential charging solutions, was agreed to be consistent with the Council’s current policy position and short-term actions within the Transport Regeneration and Climate Committee report Electric Vehicle Public Charging Infrastructure Update and Short-Term Action Plan, that was approved in September 2022.

Option 2 – Bid for a larger scheme and wait for the Government’s rollout of the Low Emission Vehicle Infrastructure (LEVI) funding. This would have meant missing out on the opportunity of additional external capital funding grant. The ORCS grant also offers the opportunity of testing the processes involved in rolling out on-street chargepoints. Accepting the ORCS grant also offers the opportunities to learn about necessary steps, and potential obstacles, before committing to a larger scale rollout of chargepoint infrastructure.