IT will take 12 years for the County Council to install its planned 1,000 electric vehicle charging points across Gloucestershire at the current rate.

That is the claim by opposition councillors at Shire Hall who say the Conservative administration will miss the three year target they set themselves.

Liberal Democrats say Gloucestershire County Council aims to have installed 130 sites by March next year which means it will have taken 608 days to install them.

At this rate they say the authority wouldn’t hit their target until 2034. The council’s building back better document says the target is 2025.

Data from the Department for Transport show that Gloucestershire has some of the lowest numbers of EV charging points in the entire country.

But the Tories say the Lib Dems would rather we rush through and impose changes to roads outside people’s homes without taking the time to consult with them.

Lib Dem deputy group leader Lisa Spivey (LD, South Cerney) said “In 2022, Conservative leader Mark Hawthorne boasted that Gloucestershire was leading the way on this issue. 

“These latest figures show those claims were just hot air, and further signs that this Conservative administration is running out of steam.”

The Lib Dems say the district councils they run in the Cotswolds and Cheltenham have currently installed more EV charging points in their districts than the County Council has across the whole of Gloucestershire.

Environment and planning cabinet member David Gray (C, Winchcombe and Woodmancote) said easy access to electric vehicle charging is essential for a large rural county like Gloucestershire to meet its carbon targets as public transport or active travel aren’t always viable options for people.

“That’s why we’re very pleased to see that many district council colleagues are installing EV chargers in their car parks. This is something we have encouraged them to do for a long time to promote sustainable travel into our market towns and high streets.

“We are also investing in 1,000 EV chargers, the first 130 of which will be going live in the coming weeks on residential streets across Gloucestershire. Our priority in rolling these out is to work collaboratively with communities to ensure the chargers are installed where they are wanted and needed.

“This requires detailed consultation and is a completely different process to installing chargers in a council owned car park. It’s disappointing that the Lib Dems would rather we rush through and impose changes to roads outside people’s homes without taking the time to listen and take onboard to their thoughts.

‘We’ll be rolling out even more chargers next year so if a street near your home would benefit from an EV charging bay please let us know here.”

More than 20 sites were chosen for the first phase of the county council’s on-street charger rollout in September following a period of consultation with residents.

Work started on the first five sites around the county in October.

The first site at which they will be installed in the Forest will be Church Street in Newent.

They have also been approved for Eastern Avenue in Mitcheldean, Templeway West in Lydney and Station Street in Cinderford.

The council says following public feedback, two twin chargepoints are being installed in many locations so four EVs can be charged, to ensure value for money. However in areas with the greatest parking pressures only two bays for EVs are being marked out initially, before there is demand to fill four bays.

The scheme is funded by the county council and the Department for Transport’s On Street Residential Chargepoint Scheme (ORCS).