Government £1.6m grant award is green light for 825 EV chargers

Blackburn with Darwen Council has received the £1.6 million government grant needed to pay for hundreds of new electric vehicle charge points.

The authority’s executive board had been 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, had originally said in a report to fellow councillors that council has applied for a £1.6m government Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (LEVI) grant.

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

It will pay for 825 electric vehicle charge points by 2030.

But at the meeting Cllr Mahmood revealed: “The grant has now been allocated by the government and is in the council’s bank account.”

Now the authority can start work on implementing the borough’s Lancashire and Blackburn with Darwen Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Strategy (BwDBC EVCI Strategy).

This will involve a two-phase plan to install charge points throughout the borough targeting terraced streets and council car parks.

The stage one programme from 2025 to 2027 will make additional parking for EV charging at locations specified by the strategy where nearby residents have no access to off-street parking.

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

The strategy’s demand revealed 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 will be ‘nearby’ chargers within a reasonable walking distance of a household (typically around five minutes).

Many will be on-street and in the areas of greatest public need.

Cllr Mahmood said after the meeting: “This is great and welcome news.

“We can now start work on installing EV chargers across the borough.

“I will encourage people to switch to electric vehicles and assist our climate change strategy.”

Council leader Cllr Phil Riley said the receipt of the grant and the EV charging strategy was important to the borough and its residents especially those living in terraced houses, adding: “We do have a great many crowded side streets.”