Issue - meetings

Grant Offer - On-Street Residential Charge Point Scheme

Purpose

To acknowledge the successful grant application and consider the £383,200 is included in the Capital Programme and the match funding of £191,600.

Recommendations

That Full Council resolves to:

1. Acknowledge the successful grant application of

£191,600;

2. APPROVE the On-Street capital scheme of £383,200 for inclusion in the Council’s capital programme funded by £191,600 of external grant funding and CDC matched funding of £191,600.

Additional documents:

Webcast for On-Street Residential Chargepoint Scheme (ORCS) Grant Offer

Minutes:

To acknowledge the successful grant application and consider the proposal for £383,200 to be included in the Capital Programme and approve the match funding of £191,600.

The Cabinet Member for Climate Change and Sustainability, Councillor Mike McKeown, proposed the recommendations and made the following points:

Climate Change impacts were getting worse at a rate faster than expected and action was needed.
The single biggest contributor to Cotswold’s carbon footprint was transport with 50% of all carbon emissions coming from cars.
The transfer from internal combustion engines to electric vehicles was important.
30-40% of homes did not have off-street parking.
The title of the grant which referred to ‘on-street’ charging points would be applied to ‘off-street’ car parks which the Council controlled.
The £191,600 of government grant plus match funding would provide for 66 chargers across 11 car parks.
The work would be done in consultation with Gloucestershire County Council.
The officers were thanked for their work in obtaining the funding for the chargers.

Councillor Mike Evemy seconded the recommendations and made the following points:

The capital programme needed to be updated as the grant award had come after the setting of the Budget for 2024/25 in February.
Agreeing the recommendations would put £383,200 into the Capital Programme with half of the funds being match funding.
The short timescale of 31 March 2025 was the deadline for chargers under the scheme to be installed and working.
The detailed business plans would come forward in July to allocate sites.

Council noted that the business cases would need to be approved by Cabinet to ensure they were financially sound against the backdrop of budget constraints.

Council highlighted that capital expenditure could have a lost opportunity cost if the return on investment was not sustainable.

Council asked if the Cabinet Member could provide a high-level overview of the business case and the realism of the timescales provided.

Councillor McKeown responded to the questions:

· The structure of the grant had been provided that the chargepoint operator Connected Kerb and the Distribution Network Operator would not get any funding if they didn’t deliver. The Council continued to engage with Connected Kerb to ensure that delivery was provided.

· In respect of the business cases, officers would be providing a report to Members on the business cases details. However, other councils had similar models of deployment with varying tariff levels to offset operation costs.

Council noted the need for more charging sites for those without home chargers and the higher costs for using public chargers. Councillor McKeown recognised this difference and stated that officers were working on a dual-tariff scheme for those needing to charge in the evening.

The Deputy Chief Executive was invited to comment on the financial queries. It was noted by the Deputy Chief Executive that the robustness of the business case would involve the finance team looking at the cost of operating the chargers and any potential lost parking income. It was stated that an amended paragraph 4.2 of the Cabinet report had ... view the full minutes text for item 10

Meeting: 09/05/2024 - Cabinet (Item 282)

Webcast for 09/05/2024 - Cabinet

282 Grant Offer - On-Street Residential Charge Point Scheme PDF 78 KB

Purpose

To acknowledge the successful grant application and request the Council includes £383,200 in the Capital Programme and supports the match funding of up to £191,600.

Recommendations

That Cabinet resolves to:

1. Note the successful grant application of £191,600;

2. Recommend to Council to include £383,200 in the Capital Programme and that the Council supports match funding of up to £191,600

Additional documents:

Webcast for Grant Offer - On-Street Residential Charge Point Scheme

Decision:

The purpose of the report was to acknowledge the successful grant application and request the Council includes £383,200 in the Capital Programme and supports the match funding of up to £191,600.

The Cabinet Member for Climate Change and Sustainability introduced the report, highlighting the following points;

The proposals were deemed as timely, due to the previous summer being the second UK’s hottest on record, which was an impact of climate change.
Transport was the District’s biggest contributor to its carbon footprint, and cars made up a significant proportion of this. Electric Vehicle use would therefore help with the achievement of the Council’s Climate Change objectives.
The proposals would see 66 chargers installed across 11 car parks.

Members of the Cabinet welcomed the recommendations and encouraged residents to utilise electric vehicles. It was also clarified that the Council did not run on-street car parks despite the title of the report. The report title reflected the name of the grant.

The recommendations were proposed by Councillor Mike McKeown and seconded by Councillor Tony Dale

RESOLVED: That Cabinet

NOTED the successful grant application of £191,600;
AGREED to recommend to Council to include £383,200 in the Capital Programme and that the Council supports match funding of up to £191,600

Voting Record

8 For, 0 Against, 0 Abstention, 0 Absent/Did not vote

Minutes:

The purpose of the report was to acknowledge the successful grant application and request the Council includes £383,200 in the Capital Programme and supports the match funding of up to £191,600.

The Cabinet Member for Climate Change and Sustainability, Councillor McKeown introduced the report, highlighting that:

The climate was continuing to change with warmer temperatures expected without action.
Transport emissions was Cotswold’s biggest contributor to its carbon footprint.
30-40% of homes did not have off-street parking which required EVCPs in nearby locations.
The Council would need to utilise its assets to install points and work with partners.
The proposal was for 66 chargers across 11 car parks.
Due to the change required to the Capital Programme, it needed the final approval of Full Council.

Cabinet welcomed the recommendation and encouraged residents to take up electric vehicles and use the chargers provided.

It was clarified that the report title was in respect of off-street car parking facilities but that the title of the report reflected the name of the grant being received.

It was noted that this was an aspiration that had been worked on since the Liberal Democrat administration first came into office in 2019.

Cabinet thanked officers for their work in delivering the report.

The recommendations were proposed by Councillor McKeown and seconded by Councillor Joe Harris.