With petrol prices spiking rapidly following the cut-off of gas and oil supplies in Russia, amid outcry over its invasion of Ukraine, many might be looking to alternatives such as electric vehicles.
Green energy and EV charging have been on the agenda for a number of years now, but only recently has there been a surge of activity.
Councils locally have been taking up the challenge, increasing the number of charging points around the county and bringing in new policies to promote their inclusion in new developments. Local Democracy Reporter Daniel Jaines looked at how authorities were doing in Lincolnshire.
Councillor Bob Bushell, portfolio holder for addressing the challenge of climate change at City of Lincoln Council, said: “There has been significant growth of charge points within the city over recent years.
“As a priority for the city council over the next few years, we are now looking at opportunities to expand charge points in areas of the city, particularly in areas with limited off-street parking and are working closely with Lincolnshire County Council as the Highways Authority on this.
“Our planning policy requires that all new homes are ‘electric vehicle ready’ and a new policy [Policy S17: Electric Vehicle Charging] is part of the draft Central Lincs Local Plan, which is due to go out for a second consultation in the spring.”
The council’s website lists 34 charging points across its six main car parks, including 12 at the new Lincoln Central Car Park.
SKDC leader Cllr Kelham Cooke using a charge point. | Photo: South Kesteven District Council
Boston is also in the same bracket as Lincoln, and East Lindsey in the 60 to 80% of authorities to have the highest number per 100,000 population.
South Kesteven has between 20 to 40% per 100,000 population.
However, the rest of the district councils such as South Holland, North Kesteven and West Lindsey are all in the bottom 20%.
The City of Lincoln uses the bp pulse network to supply its energy, and according to its website, without a subscription charging will cost between 33 to 44p per kWh.
A subscription is £7.85 per month including VAT.
According to EDF Energy’s website, it typically costs between £6 to £7 for 30 minutes of charging at Tesco, a figure which will get you about 100 miles of range.
EV company PodPoint suggests those who charge at home will get around 28p per kWh which means a 60kWh electric car will cost about £15 for 200 miles of range – though it suggests tariffs can be made cheaper.
Its Smart Home Charging pod starts at £799.
DriveElectric uses data from the RAC that suggests a home charge point typically costs around £800 to install, but notes that government grants could drastically reduce it.
It’s also possible, though slower, to use regular plug sockets to charge most new vehicles.
As for the vehicles themselves, AutoExpress ran an article in January which suggested some electric cars could go for just over £19,000 now, while prices are set to drop even further as manufacturing and popularity grows and people look for alternatives to the rising costs at the petrol pump.
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Nominations are open for schools and education settings to be recognised in the 2022 Lincolnshire Education Excellence Awards.
The event is organised by Stonebow Media, publishers of The Lincolnite, to celebrate the best school and teachers in Greater Lincolnshire.
The headline sponsors making the awards possible are Lincoln College Group.
Twelve categories are now open for nominations. The deadline for nominations is June 3, with a judging lunch scheduled for June 7.
Nominations are open from parents, carers, friends, families or education settings themselves, so if you know someone who deserving of winning now is the time to vote!
The awards ceremony will be held at the Engine Shed on July 7.
It’s been a week since the controversial statue of Margaret Thatcher was installed in Grantham’s St Peter’s Hill.
The £300,000 bronze monument immediately caused a stir and debate from both supporters and opponents of the first female Prime Minister of the UK.
Within hours of its 7am installation last Sunday, it had already been egged by a man later revealed to be 59-year-old Jeremy Webster, a deputy director at the Attenborough Arts Centre at the University of Leicester.
Mr Webster’s mother-in-law recently described his actions as “childish”.
Quoted in the MailOnline she said: “Margaret Thatcher lasted a long time in power. She was a trailblazer as the first woman prime minister and she had such energy, even though I know she slept very little.
“I’m very surprised to hear about all of this [egg throwing]. I’m going to have to call my daughter. I wouldn’t have thought Jeremy would be the sort of person to do this. It seems very childish to me – he has a responsible job.”
There have been reports of other antisocial behaviour taking place including people urinating up the statue, but investigations into these are yet to be confirmed by officials.
Away from the statue itself, others took to social media to react to the new monument.
Twitterer @BolsoverBeast thought Mr Webster’s actions should be expanded as a way to… get more people involved?
I think it would be a good idea to put Thatcher’s statue on a low loader and tow it slowly around the country so that we all have a chance to throw something at it. pic.twitter.com/uftMqr0LgR
— Chloe Schlosberg (@ChloeSchlosberg) May 19, 2022
Some called back to the fate of other statues
@Irritatedllama called back to the fate of slave trader Edward Colston who was thrown into the Bristol Harby in June 2020.
It's absolutely disgraceful that people are throwing eggs at the Margaret Thatcher statue in Grantham! We need to deploy a taskforce to give it jolly good wash!#Granthampic.twitter.com/RKftKUls4u
It wasn’t long before a parody account of the statue was set up on Twitter – nor before “she” was interacting with other parody accounts.
It was awful. I could see almost all of Grantham
— That Statue of Thatcher (@thatcher_statue) May 18, 2022
A… positive view?
There were supporters of the statue, however, Darren Grimes from GBNews was one of the few popular posts calling on people not to “give in to threats of petty vandalism”. He later posted the statue should be in parliament – where it was previously rejected from.
I honestly think Margaret Thatcher would have found this first round of petty vandalism of her statue to be utterly hilarious.
The statue looks absolutely glorious.
Almost a decade on from her passing, she’s still winding them up!
Some, like @Jonnyhibberd were more measured in their response.
I don't see a problem with a Thatcher statue and I also don't see a problem with people throwing eggs at it. Thatcher is an important part of our history, and so is what a lot of people thought about her.
— Jonathan Hibberd 🇺🇦 (@Jonnyhibberd) May 18, 2022
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