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Agenda item

On-Street Residential Chargepoint Scheme (ORCS) Grant Offer

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.

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 not been included in the Full Council report in error. This paragraph stated that:

 

A Cabinet report in June 2024 will include a detailed business case for each site and will make recommendations as to which sites would benefit from EVCPs including whether the full grant award is required should the business case for each car park not demonstrate best value, give rise to an ongoing subsidy from the Council, or where there are other operational or delivery challenges.

 

Council noted the scale of the crisis with increasing temperatures caused by climate change and the potential impact of the scheme on reducing emissions.

 

Council noted the advantage of slower electric vehicle chargers in helping to attract and keep tourists whilst they visit the District. It was also noted that slower chargers help to preserve the life of car batteries.

 

Council asked if the chargers would be spread out amongst the smaller rural communities and not just focussed on larger towns like Cirencester. Councillor McKeown confirmed the chargers would be spread out across the whole District but would not cover villages. It was noted that Town and Parish Councils may wish to access central government grant funding or any Community Infrastructure Levy funding available to install their own chargers for smaller rural communities.

 

 

Voting Record

 

31 For, 0 Against, 0 Abstention, 3 Absent/Did not vote

Supporting documents:

 

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