Oldham Liberal Democrat Leader councillor Howard Sykes MBE has hit out at council bosses after it emerged that Oldham Council currently has no plan in place for ‘on street’ residential electric vehicle charging.
Councillor Sykes said, “Demand for electric vehicles is on the rise, with record numbers hitting our roads in 2022. Yet Oldham’s leaders have consistently failed to plan for the future. We are already falling behind other parts of Greater Manchester and the rest of the country.”
A council response to a Freedom of Information request (FOI) seen by Oldham Liberal Democrats confirms that there are currently no plans for an ‘on street residential charging strategy’.
Councillor Sykes said, “Parts of our borough are very densely populated. As demand for electric vehicles grows, we need a strategy that delivers for people living on terraced streets and other high-density housing areas were people do not have drives or garages for home charging. But the council continually misses opportunities to deliver.”
“There is a lack of long-term thinking. Whether that is by failing to factor charging points into development plans like we’ve seen over the years with Uppermill Leisure Centre or the Saddleworth Museum; or whether it is by completely failing to develop a strategy for residential charging. Time is running out for the council to get this right.”
The FOI response also stated that Oldham had 102 ‘publicly available’ charging points as of March 2023.
Councillor Sykes said, “We have a key target of 3,000 charging points by 2025. Where are the rest of them coming from in the next 18 months? This is nowhere near good enough. This sort of response just makes it clear to everyone the current leadership of the council is not serious about electric vehicle charging.”
‘It’s time to ‘jump start’ electric vehicle charging points’, say Oldham Liberal Democrats – Howard Sykes (mycouncillor.org.uk)
Electric charging strategy is ‘divorced from reality’ – Howard Sykes (mycouncillor.org.uk)
FOI response provided by Oldham Council
FOI 18401
- How many public charging outlets or chargepoints for electric or plug-in hybrid vehicles have you installed to date in your local authority? Please provide figures to the nearest possible date and include the month and the year the figures correspond to.
108 (102 publicly available) – March 2023
- For Question 1, how many of the public charging outlets or chargepoints are those classed as On-Street Residential Chargepoints, located on-street in residential streets or areas?
Of the 102 publicly available chargepoints across Oldham, most are located in Council-owned car parks, retail outlets e.g., supermarkets, retail parks and outlets, fast food outlets etc.
- How many public charging outlets or chargepoints for electric or plug-in hybrid vehicles do you plan to install in the current fiscal year or the current calendar year? Please provide figures to whichever timeframe corresponds with your reporting.
We plan to install 250 charge points (500 sockets) across the next two financial years (by March 2025) overall.
- For Question 3, how many of the planned public charging outlets or charge points are classed as On-Street Residential Chargepoints, to be installed in on-street residential areas?
We can’t say at this stage. Using grant funding (if secured) we would look to install primarily standard chargers at publicly accessible locations, which would be supplemented by faster chargers through a commercial agreement.
- Do you have a published strategy for On-Street Residential charging infrastructure?
No
- Do you have a dedicated Policy Officer (or equivalent) responsible for your electric vehicle charging infrastructure?
No
- Has your local authority submitted an application or multiple applications for the On-Street Residential Chargepoint Scheme (ORCS)?
No
- If yes to Question7, how much funding has the local authority applied for in total? The figures can include funding yet to be received.
N/A