Peterborough’s aim to become a haven for electric vehicle owners
has shifted up a gear with the submission of financial plans for a
£7 million project to install 600 plug-in posts across the East of
England being delivered to Westminster.
The bid was signed off by Peterborough City Council Leader
Councillor Marco Cereste and chief executive Gillian Beasley.
The bid for Peterborough has been led and managed by the city
council’s transport planning team and central funding unit.
Infrastructure planning and delivery group manager Barry Kirk said:
“This is an exciting project that puts Peterborough at the
forefront of emerging developments.
“The prospect of zero-emission cars driving around Peterborough
will contribute to our reputation as the UK’s environment
capital.”
The East of England bid team was led by Vicky Ford MEP and
Norwich South MP Simon Wright, who delivered the region’s final
‘Plugged-in Places’ business case to the Department for Transport’s
Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV). “A successful Plugged-in
Places bid will provide the infrastructure required to unlock this
potential and create significant supply chain opportunities for
local businesses,” said Ms Ford.
The East of England’s bid, called ‘Evalu8’, has been coordinated
on behalf of the region by the East of England Development Agency
(EEDA). It provides detailed plans to install 600 plug-in posts
across eight key transport clusters. They include 75 posts in
Peterborough and 10 posts at Stansted Airport.
The planned network would mean that any business or resident in
the East of England would be no more than 25 miles from the nearest
charging post, making the whole region navigable by electric
vehicles.
Councillor Cereste said: “Peterborough is forecast to grow by a
third in the next fifteen years. It is only by embracing new
technology and reducing the impact of transport that we can grow in
a sustainable way. The city council is actively seeking to reduce
carbon emissions and its emerging transport policy is already
seeking options for promoting the use of electrically powered
bicycles, cars and buses.
“The Plugged-in Place initiative is an opportunity to drive
forward our sustainable aims and it will give further impetus to
our environmental goods and services businesses, while supporting
our reputation as the home of environment capital.”
Evalu8 has received widespread support from a large number of
organisations hoping to install a public plug-in post, including
the 11 local transport authorities across the East of England.
A final decision from government on the allocation of its
Plugged-in Places funding is expected by the end of December.
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Additional information:
The East of England Evalu8 bid proposes to install plug-in posts
at Bedford (75 posts), Cambridge (84 posts), Ipswich (63 posts),
Norwich (84 posts), Peterborough (75 posts), Luton and
Hertfordshire (105 posts), Thames Gateway South Essex (114 posts)
and London Stansted Airport (10 posts).
The bid puts forward a proposal for £3 million funding from
OLEV, with an additional £4 million committed by public and private
sector partners and a pending bid for additional European funding
through the European Regional Development Fund.
Evalu8 has received widespread support from organisations hoping
to install a public plug-in post, including the 11 local transport
authorities across the East of England. Big industry names backing
the project include EDF Energy, Vauxhall Motors, Ford, Lotus, BT,
BAE Systems, Marshall Group and Millbrook Proving Ground.