Huge changes to the UK’s on-street EV charging network could be on the way after the Government proposed reforms that could see the need for planning permission for cross-pavement charging solutions scrapped, as well as potentially a reduction in public charging costs.
Arguably the headline announcement here is the proposed removal of the need for planning permission for cross-pavement charging solutions, such as gullies; these are essentially channels dug into the pavement, through which a charge cable can run and remain flush with the surface.
With roughly 40 per cent of properties in the country not having a driveway, the complexity and high cost of the current planning application processes is thought to be one of the major barriers many face in making the switch to an EV.
Speaking to Auto Express, Ben Whitaker, chief technical officer of on-street charging solution firm Kerbo Charge, explained that residents currently “have to make two separate applications to enable charging without a driveway – [one] to the County Council Highways Authority, and then a more cumbersome second application to the District Council Planning Team”.
“What makes this such a barrier to residents is not only that one council officer might say ‘yes’, and the other ‘no’” Whitaker continued, “but also that the application [includes a] non-refundable £528 planning fee, complex architects’ diagrams, maps and, in some areas, a mandatory wildlife impact survey – all to fit a device roughly the size of a tin postbox!”
