Council launches on-street electric vehicle chargepoints across Northumberland

The chargers are mostly suited to overnight charging for residents who do not have access to off-street parking – and therefore cannot have private chargers installed – but they can also be used for visitors to top-up if needed.

The locations for the Northumberland County Council project are Clayport Street in Alnwick, First Avenue in Ashington, Parade car park in Berwick, Main Street in Felton, Westgate in Haltwhistle, Corbridge Main Street and Bellingham Centre.

The chargepoints represent the council’s first move towards ‘on-street’ curbside EV charging and if the pilot is successful, more of them will be rolled out in other areas in the county.

In addition, they are part of the local authority’s on-going commitment to make these vehicles more accessible.

Council leader Glen Sanderson said: “It’s fantastic to see the progress we are making with EV infrastructure in Northumberland.

“EVs are much better for the environment as they give off less pollution and greenhouse gases, and it’s imperative that we look at more sustainable ways to get around our large and rural county.

“We know that there is still much more work to do in order to make EVs more accessible to more people in the county, but we are certainly heading in the right direction.”

The official launch event took place in Bellingham Centre with Hexham MP Guy Opperman, local councillor John Riddle and representatives from the council’s climate change team and installation company Connected Kerb in attendance.

Mr Opperman said: “Northumberland County Council is doing brilliant work in extending our county’s EV infrastructure.

“It’s great to see more chargepoints becoming available – not only for our residents, but also for visitors to Northumberland.

“Having better provision for EV is a massive boost for our tourism.”

The chargers have been funded by the Office for Zero Emission Vehicles On Street Residential Chargepoint Scheme together with the county council.

Electricity from the charging points is 35 pence per kilowatt hour, the same rate as for other Northumberland County Council chargepoints, and charging takes take between five and seven hours.