Agenda item

To apply for funding to deliver 37 public dual socket chargepoints in residential areas where residents do not have access to off street parking.

Approval was sought to authorise the Section 151 Officer to sign and return the grant award letter issued by the Office of Zero Emission Vehicles for £300,430 as part of the On Street Residential Charging Scheme (ORCS).

Questions were asked by the Chair of the Children’s Services and Education Scrutiny Board regarding how the grant received by Sandwell compared to the other Black Country Boroughs and the basis on which the grant allocations were assessed.

In response, the Cabinet Member for Neighbourhoods and Communities confirmed, on behalf of the Cabinet Member for Environment, that Sandwell received the second largest grant allocation of all the Black Country Boroughs, larger than Wolverhampton and Walsall but smaller than Dudley. The amount of grant funding received depended on the cost of connecting sites to the local power network and in Sandwell the cost of connecting sites to the local power network was generally higher than in the other boroughs.

Reasons for Decision

The funding would be used by the Council to deliver 37 public dual socket chargepoints (74 sockets) in residential areas where residents did not have access to off street parking and were therefore not able to charge their vehicles on driveways with a private charge point, as was the norm. The funding would therefore deliver approximately 40% of the 7kW chargepoints required by 2025 in order to support Sandwell’s transition to electric vehicles in light of the Government’s 2030 ban on petrol and diesel vehicles, as outlined in the Black Country ULEV (Ultra Low Emission Vehicles) Strategy.

Alternative Options

An option existed to not install any public on street residential charge points. This would leave residents without off street parking with severely limited options for car charging in light of the 2030 ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars. This would also undermine the borough’s transition to electric vehicles in contradiction to policy as stated in the Black Country ULEV Strategy.

Funding public on street residential charge points from existing capital budgets would, given budget constraints, result in significant reduction in the number of charge points delivered (by approximately 75%), leading to a failure to meet the required amount, again undermining the borough’s transition to electric vehicles in contradiction to policy as stated in the Black Country ULEV Strategy.

Submitting a smaller bid would reduce the number of charge points delivered leading to a failure to meet the required amount and again undermining the borough’s transition to electric vehicles in contradiction to policy as stated in the Black Country ULEV Strategy.

Submitting a larger bid would deliver more chargepoints in a single batch. However, a larger bid with more charge points would risk placing an unsustainable strain on staffing resources given that this was SMBC’s first bid to ORCS. Such a bid would necessitate inclusion of sites which would be more challenging to install infrastructure in. Additionally, a larger bid would face an increased risk of rejection by OZEV as it would place a larger demand on the central funding pot. Securing match funding for a larger grant award would also be more challenging. Instead it would be preferable to submit consecutive bids of a similar size each year.

Agreed: -

(1)     that approval be given to authorise the Section 151 Officer to sign and return the grant award letter issued by the Office of Zero Emission Vehicles, for £300,430 as part of the On Street Residential Charging Scheme;

(2)     that the recommendations contained in the appraisal report as now submitted, be approved to mitigate any risk to the Council.