Charging points for electric vehicles on the way

Electric charging points will be installed in Glossop and Buxton after the climate-friendly car initiative was given the green light.

Derbyshire County Council has confirmed it has secured more than £200,000 to install the charging points for up to 40 cars and vans. 

These include Edward Street in Glossop and Victoria Park Road in Buxton. The others are in Ashbourne, Bakewell and Matlock. 

Up to eight vehicles can charge up at each site at any one time.

To charge up, motorists would need to register and will be issued with a smartcard, which is then swiped against a machine to unlock the electricity supply.

The initial batch of charge points are expected to be in place by the end of March this year. 

Cllr Tony King, DCC's Cabinet Member for Economic Development and Regeneration, said: "With demand for electrical vehicles rising, we want to do all we can to help more Derbyshire residents make the switch to more environmentally-friendly motoring.

"We worked with the district and borough councils to identify sites for electric vehicle charge points and purposely chose those which are close to residential areas where there is limited off-street parking. The sites chosen are also within or very close to the Peak District which is popular with visitors, who will also be able to use them." 

He added: "We’re committed to working with other organisations and the whole community to tackle climate change and achieve zero carbon emissions throughout Derbyshire by 2050.

"This is just one of the things we are doing to help achieve this goal and once the charging points are in place, we hope more local residents will be encouraged to switch to electric vehicles, benefitting from reduced motoring costs such as fuel and road tax and improving local air quality." 

Delivered by the Energy Saving Trust, the scheme is being funded by the UK Government’s Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV), which contributed £145,000, and the charging point provider BP Chargemaster, which contributed £55,154.

The county council say it intends to bid for further money to introduce electric vehicle charging points in other parts of Derbyshire in the future.

Anyone wishing to use the charge points can check the council’s website at www.derbyshire.gov.uk/electricvehicles for updates about when they will go live.