The Committee was presented with a report regarding the installation of electric vehicle charging infrastructure at four of the Council owned car parks.

In the EV Strategy Action Plan (2022-2026) Action 1 stated that the Council would ‘Explore opportunities to increase the network of publicly available electric vehicle charge points across Runnymede on both Council owned land and other public sector land’.   This included both on and off-street chargers.

As discussed in the Council's EV Strategy, it was expected that properties in the borough without access to their own driveways currently faced a barrier in being able to transition to electric vehicles.   Surrey County Council were installing on-street chargers in the borough which had the potential to help overcome this barrier.  However, to further assist in this regard, as well as using car parks for destination charging, Officers intended to allow residents who lived close to Council car parks to charge their cars overnight in some of the Council’s car parks.

In order to determine the best options for facilitating public charging points across the borough on Council owned land, Officers from Digital, Customer and Collection Services team worked with the Energy Saving Trust (EST) to look at factors such as demand, type of chargers needed, barriers for implementation and use of available funding.  Based on these discussions and further exploratory work, the four car parks chosen to be most suitable were:

Chertsey Library Car Park, Heriot Road, Chertsey

Woodland Car Park (St Peter’s Hospital), Hillswood Drive, Chertsey

Wasp Farm Car Park, Heritage Court, Egham

Memorial Gardens Car Park, Station Parade, Virginia Water

These sites corresponded to the car parks where the Automatic Number Plate Recognition was installed.  Currently, there was limited electricity supply at the car parks being considered.  As such, if the EV charging points were to be delivered to the shortlisted car parks, the Council would first need to understand the requirements and investigate the costs of any new connections to the grid at each site. The Assets and Regeneration team were awaiting quotes from existing Council contractors for an electrical survey at each site, however, the team estimated that the survey would cost in the region of £5,000 to £10,000 for the 4 car parks.  £30,000 was available from the earmarked Car Parks Reserve which could be used to pay for these surveys.

The Committee supported the proposal but considered Option 1 detailed in the report  a viable option and Officers were asked to also explore this option.

Resolved that:

The use of £30,000 from the earmarked Car Parks Reserve be used to complete electrical surveys at the four suggested car park sites.

Corporate Management Committee be asked to approve a budget of £30,000 to be financed by the release of funds.

The locations of the four suitable car parks sites selected be approved.

Officers be authorised to explore Options 1, 2 and 3 with regards to progressing EV Charging points in Council owned car parks.

Option 4 in the report be disregarded.

Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure at Council Owned Car Parks

Appendix A - GIS Car Park Summary Sheets

Appendix 2 Surrey County Council Brochure - Collaborating Organisations

The Committee was advised that surveys, to establish whether there was sufficient electrical capacity at various sites, were required before any charging infrastructure could be procured.  Consideration would be given to whether faster or slower charging technology was required, depending on expected and maximum parking times available at each viable site.

It was resolved that a budget of £30,000, to be financed by the release of funds, be approved to undertake the works agreed by the Environment and Sustainability Committee.