Agenda item

An opportunity for members of the public to make statements or ask questions in accordance with the rules as to public participation.

Mr Tim Taylor submitted questions about Dacorum’s electric vehicle (EV) strategy. He felt that the strategy wasn’t working for Berkhamsted because:

·          Charging facilities fail e-drivers because to get a full charge out of a 7 kilowatt charger a car needs to charge for 8 hours and the parking restrictions within the car parks have a limit of 4 hours. Staying over 4 hours results in a fine. In addition the mobile apps for using the chargers are unreliable.

·          Charging facilities fail petrol drivers because there are less space for them to park due to the electric charging points.

·          Charging facilities fail non-drivers because less revenue is made and Council Tax increases as a result.

Mr Taylor felt that Dacorum weren’t attempting to resolve the issues he has raised. He proposed gold, silver and bronze options for parking which included having a 10 hour parking duration for drivers of electric cars.

         B Hosier explained that the traffic regulation order (TRO) would have to change to make an exception to parking limit durations for electric vehicles. Making these changes to TRO’s would be a lengthy and costly process.

B Hosier noted that when a car is plugged into a charging post it is assumed to be charging. The car parks Mr Taylor was referring to are free to park at from 6pm to 8am and whilst the car park is closed from 1am to 7am a car could be charging overnight without facing a fine.

In respect of the providers of the charging points, these are currently being provided by a legacy provider, BP Pulse, and negotiations are taking place to find a new provider for a new contract for the EV charging points. This legacy system was installed by Herts County Council. The council is currently liaising with new providers who won’t charge for inputting their EV charging units and who could even install the charging points at zero cost, and some who are proposing sharing profit with the council on them.

Richard LeBrun responded to the planning aspect to Mr Taylor’s questions. He advised the Council adopted its Parking Standard Supplementary Planning Document in November 2020. This provides more detail and guidance on local planning policies than in the Local Plan to help make the decision on planning applications. Adopting SPDs are included and new developments have standard requirements for EV charging. It takes into account the national planning policy framework that ‘developments should be located and designed where practical to incorporate facilities for charging plug in and other ultra-low emission vehicles.’ RLB confirmed he would provide a copy of the Parking SPD following the meeting. Looking at dwelling houses there needs to be 50% active provision and 50% passive provision for spaces on a new development. Agreeing a higher provision would be on a case by case basis.

         The Parking SPD sets out a lot in respect of planning and EV charging. New home developments will be required to provide EV charging provision in accordance with the standards and guidance set out in the Parking SPD. There’s currently a balance to be struck between the provision of active and passive charging facilities on new developments. Where there is shared parking the Council wishes to encourage efficient parking use and would in general prefer unallocated spaces to achieve a more optimal user car parking spaces provided with new developments. Provision of EV charging facilities should take this into account. The full responses to Mr Taylor’s questions will be emailed to him.