Blackburn with Darwen – £1.6m EV strategy

Blackburn with Darwen Council is to earmark £1.6million to pay for 825 electric vehicle charge points by 2030.

The authority’s executive board will be asked on Thursday to start the process of identifying the locations for the devices so it is ready for the green motoring revolution.

Its highways boss Cllr Quesir Mahmood will tell his fellow senior councillors that work on implementing the borough’s previously approved Lancashire and Blackburn with Darwen Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Strategy (BwDBC EVCI Strategy).

In a report he says that the council has applied for a £1.6m government Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (LEVI) grant.

But he says work needs to start now on preparing a plan to spend it before other local authorities sign up the companies who can install the EV charging points.

Cllr Mahmood’s report says: ” The LEVI application is for £1.6million to aid the installation of EV charge points in the borough and commission a concession contract to appoint a Charge Point Operator (CPO).

“There will be a two-phase plan to install charge points throughout the borough.

“The executive board is recommended to approves a supplementary capital estimate of of £1.6million, funded by way of capital grant funding once it is awarded to the council under the LEVI application.

“The phase one programme (2025-2027) is to make additional parking for EV charging at locations specified by the BwDBC EVCI Strategy where nearby residents have no access to off-street parking.

“The phase two programme (2027-2031) is to add EV charging directly on street, in locations highlighted by the strategy where residents have no access to off-street parking.

“The strategy found that the results of the demand modelling exercise indicated that an additional 259 chargepoints will be required in Blackburn with Darwen by 2026, and 825 chargepoints by 2030.

“Around 70 to 75 per cent of these should be ‘nearby’ chargers, which are those within a reasonable walking distance of a household (typically around five minutes) – many of these will be on-street and required in the areas of public need.

“Given the fact that almost every local authority in the country will be planning to launch their Invitation to Tender (ITT) out to the market within a similar timeframe, there is a perceived risk that the CPO companies may cherry pick the most lucrative location authorities and potentially not bid for smaller authorities like Blackburn with Darwen.

“It is therefore a priority that the ITT is issued as soon as practicable to gain the attention of the CPOs before the market is flooded.”