MORE than 40 on-street electric vehicle charging points are in operation across Wirral in a pilot scheme aimed at encouraging motorists to explore 'greener' ways of travel.
The new charging points, focused in Hoylake, Wallasey and Woodchurch aim to make it easier for owners of electric vehicles to stay charged up and encourage more people to consider moving away from petrol and diesel.
The council committed to reducing the borough's carbon emissions when it declared climate emergency in 2019 and the charging points, installed as part of a £100,000 scheme, will help to provide the greener network that residents need to reduce their emissions too.
One of the new charging points
Cllr Liz Grey, chair of Wirral's environment, climate emergency and transport committee, said: "While electric vehicles are not the primary solution to climate emergency issues, it is important that we do what we can to encourage those who have to travel by car to do so without causing as much air pollution or GHG emissions - this pilot project takes us a step closer in that regard.
"A big part of our climate emergency action plan is to work towards a future with far more active travel and better public transport."
The installation of this first set of chargers has been funded by a grant from OZEV – the Office for Zero Emissions Vehicles, formerly known as OLEV - and Wirral Council. All future electric vehicle charging schemes will be subject to securing funding.
Electric vehicle charging points will be free for the first 12 months (from October 2021 – October 2022).
They are situated in:
- Ackers Road, Woodchurch
- Atherton Street, Wallasey
- Cable Road, Hoylake
- Carrington Road, Wallasey
- Chapel Road, Hoylake
- Cressingham Road, Wallasey
- Elm Road, Birkenhead
- Elm Grove, Hoylake
- Ganneys Meadow, Woodchurch
- Grove Road, Hoylake
- Palantine Road, Bromborough
- Rostherne Avenue, Wallasey
- Sandringham Avenue, Hoylake
- Sandringham Close, Hoylake
- The Kings Gap, Hoylake
- Walby Close, Woodchurch
- Waverley Road, Hoylake
The locations of the units have been chosen based on a survey carried out in 2019 that asked residents where they would most like to see electric vehicle charging points.
More information about EV Charging can be found on the council's website.
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