Scarborough Council enters into £450k agreement with Connected Kerb for electric vehicle charging points

On Monday October 10, Scarborough Council entered into an agreement with Connected Kerb Ltd for the supply, installation, and ongoing operation and maintenance services of 48 active electric vehicle charge points.

The EV-charging points will be located across 18 council car parks with 27 charge points in Scarborough, 12 in Whitby, three in Filey, and two each in Robin Hood’s Bay, Staithes and Runswick Bay.

The charge points will be a mixture of 7kW and 22kW to provide flexibility in terms of capacity and therefore speed of charging.

It’s hoped the first devices will be installed before the end of the year in what will be the biggest roll out of electric vehicle chargers anywhere in North Yorkshire and follows on from the borough council’s declaration of a climate emergency last year.

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In September the council announced that it had been awarded a grant of approximately £264,390 by the Office for Zero Emission Vehicles.

The council’s successful funding bid was to the Government’s On-Street Residential Chargepoint Scheme (ORCS) which has been allocated £20m of funding between 2022 and 2023.

The latest agreement between Scarborough Council and Connected Kerb was approved by council director Lisa Dixon.

The project is funded via the £264,000 external grant and a 40 per cent match from Connected Kerb.

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A report by the authority states that “once capital costs are recovered by Connected Kerb there will be a 40% operating profit payable to the Council during the term of the 13-year operating agreement”.

The report adds: “There is potential for designated EV-bays to either reduce or increase council income from car parking spaces, with comparable projects elsewhere reporting insignificant implications.”

The duration of the agreement between SBC and Connected Kerb will be 13 years, three years longer than originally anticipated.

However, the council said that the agreement was extended “to enable the capital costs to be offset over the contract term”.

There has been concern that lead times with Northern Powergrid connections could “impact on project delivery”, however, council officers are said to be working with the energy provider to mitigate risks.