Agenda item

Report of the Cabinet Member for Environment, Climate Change and Operations is attached.

Councillor Alan Quinn, Cabinet Member for Environment, Climate Change and Operations, presented the report regarding public Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure (EVCI) to encourage residents and visitors to make the transition from Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) vehicles to Zero Emission vehicles including Electric Vehicles (EVs).

It was noted that the proposed procurement exercise would allow a supplier to own, install, operate, and maintain a network of public EVCI on Council land, increasing the Public EVCI available without having to invest its own funds, but it  wouldn’t preclude the Council looking at investing in EVCI in the future.

Decision:

Cabinet:

1.    Approved the approach to procure a concession contract for public EVCI, which offers Council Land to suppliers to install, operate and maintain a network of EVCI. In return the council significantly increases its EVCI and will look for profit share/rental income opportunities as part of the procurement process;

2.    Approved an eight-week consultation starting on the 18 July using One Community Bury to engage the public on the proposed locations;

3.    Delegated authority to the Executive Director of Operations and Executive Director of Finance in consultation with the portfolio lead for Environment, Climate Change and Operations to award the subsequent concession contract once procured; and

4.    Delegated authority to the Executive Director of Place and the Cabinet Members for Strategic Growth and Environment, Climate Change, and operations alongside the Executive Director of Finance to negotiate and agree terms for leases to site the charging points once a contract has been procured.

Reasons for the decision:

There is a lack of Public EVCI in Bury (12 EV charging points per 100k of the population) compared to the national average (45 EV charging points per 100k of population) and the Northwest average (26 EV charging points per 100k of population).

It will help to provide a substantial increase in Rapid and Ultra Rapid EVCI that will help to give residents and visitors confidence to make the transition to an EV.

This is a no capital cost option to the Council and shifts all operational responsibility and ongoing maintenance of the EVCI to the supplier.

Bury Council has adopted the Greater Manchester EVCI strategy. The strategy adopts an approach which focuses on providing EVCI hubs. Charging hubs are better suited to faster EVCI i.e., a 50kw rapid charger, which can give an 80% charge in an hour. The current government funding available to local authorities only permits the installation of 7kw fast chargers, which take typically 6 hours to charge a vehicle.

Alternative options considered and rejected:

Using Council funds or funding we can apply for to install Council owned EVCI. This option is still available to us if we adopt the recommendation of a concession contract for EVCI on Council land, but the council does not have the funds required to invest in rapid / ultra-rapid charges needed to improve the network so could not deliver the same impact / service for residents.

Officers continue to work with Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) to install EVCI. TfGM are currently awaiting a report on their and other authorities’ role in supporting the transition to EVs with EVCI and are unlikely to look at any projects until this is completed later this summer. The Council can still explore this option as well as what is being proposed in this report.