By Stuart Sommerville

Copyright scotsman

The scheme will help develop a network of EV charging stations across the county and southern Scotland. Transport Scotland has given £6 million to a group of local authorities to develop EV infrastructure. The goal is that charging points should be no more than a half mile from most homes. Peter Rogers, the council’s energy and climate change manager explained that West Lothian’s share of the fund would be £520,000. At this month’s meeting of the environment and sustainability policy development scrutiny panel (PDSP), Conservative Alison Adamson asked what provision there could be to help households with no off-street parking. She asked the meeting: “What considerations have been made for people who wish to begin using electric vehicles but, because of planning or health and safety regulations they cannot take a cable from their house to their street parking area?” Mr Rogers said that senior transport managers were working on guidance on this and added: “There’s also a pilot project that’s been set up by the Scottish Government looking at pavement gullies in particular. “There’s obviously a degree of concern around a number of issues like long term maintenance of cables, and trip or fall hazards of additional street furniture and around mobility.” Mr Rogers added: “The £6 million investment announced by Transport Scotland will lead to a significant increase in the charging network within close proximity, in particular to areas that don’t have significant access to off-street parking, so there is a lot of work going on to support it. “Some of this won’t come to fruition immediately, but certainly in the medium term.” The Local Democracy Reporting Service highlighted earlier this year that Edinburgh council is the lead local authority in a group which includes immediate neighbours in Falkirk, Mid and East Lothian as well as the Scottish Borders, Dumfries and Galloway, and Fife. This group is working together to develop a region wide charging infrastructure. The agreement comes despite the fall in the numbers using existing EV charging points and a slowdown in the sale of EVs this year. Nevertheless the sale of new EVs is being driven largely by Chinese car manufacturers. China’s motor industry has moved to embrace EV faster than western car makers. Earlier this year West Lothian council estimated that it would cost around £3.2million to fully equip West Lothian with EV infrastructure, the majority of which would be paid for through private sector investment in a 15 to 20 year programme.