Vital electric vehicle charging points coming to Lincolnshire villages

Much-needed electric vehicle charging points are to be installed in a selection of villages across Lincolnshire.

As part of a government-funded project, more than 100 new charging points are being installed across the county this year.

Boston, Horncastle, Lincoln, Skegness, Mablethorpe and Stamford will be the first towns to benefit from the pilot scheme.

However, the team working on the project have promised they will be looking into scaling it down for smaller communities and villages across the county soon after.

Lincolnshire County Council led a bid for five local authorities in the Midlands, which resulted in almost £1 million of government funding.

The majority of these charging points will placed on the streets of residential areas, with the rest being on council-owned land.

A Lincolnshire County Council report on the matter detailed that private companies aren’t building charging points in Lincolnshire as many locations aren’t commercially-viable.

Members of council discussed the scheme at an Environment and Economy Scrutiny Committee meeting on Tuesday, February 28 where Vanessa Strange, Head of Infrastructure Investment, said: “Our push around this is about encouraging the commercial sector in engaging with Lincolnshire. 

“At the moment, they are very engaged elsewhere and not as engaged here as we would like them to be, so that is our focus.”

When asked about future provision in villages by Councillor Ian Carrington, Senior Commissioning Officer Tanya Vaughan added: “I think village-wise, that is probably next on our list.

“If you look at it on the flip side, how many villages have a petrol station currently? It’s about looking at localities in different areas. 

“Potterhanworth doesn’t have a garage and neither does Branston, but that doesn’t mean you’d rule them out. 

“We need to learn lessons from the pilot and use them to try to scale it down.

“We’re quite limited on the pilot with the timescales and the funding we’ve got, but that is definitely something we’d be following up with in the next tranche.”