Northumberland County Council has passed a motion to add 36 public electric vehicle charging points at 26 locations, expanding the local authority's existing charging network. The decision covers a suite of new chargers rather than a single site, spreading the added capacity across the county.
Of the new charge points, 78 per cent are to be installed on land owned by the council. The remaining chargers will be placed on land owned by third parties through licensing agreements, according to the plan approved by the council.
Funding and delivery
The infrastructure is being financed with just over £1 million in external funding from the City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement. That money will be used to roll out the charge points until 2029, giving the programme a multi-year delivery window.
Revenue generated by the chargers will meet their running costs, management and maintenance. Northumberland County Council has an in-house EV team that will install and maintain the equipment, keeping operational responsibility within the authority.
Council rationale
Cllr Richard Wearmouth, the council's cabinet member with responsibility for transport, said it was positive to see more investment in EV charging provision in Northumberland. He noted that the county has one of the largest road networks in the country and said it was vital to ensure the necessary facilities are available to help people get around.
Northumberland is a coastal region in the northeast of England, bordering Scotland and known for Hadrian's Wall and Northumberland National Park. The council has described the county as having one of the largest road networks in the country.
The charging announcement follows the entry into service of 14 BYD BD11 battery-electric buses in the region a few months earlier. That deployment added another element of electric transport in Northumberland alongside the charger expansion.
For the network, the significance lies in the number of locations and the split between council-owned and third-party land. Distributing 36 charge points across 26 locations can put infrastructure at more sites than a single large hub, although the plan as described does not specify how many chargers will be available at each location or what charging power they will offer.
The funding is intended to support delivery through 2029, while the revenue model is meant to cover the network's ongoing costs rather than only the initial installation. The council's in-house team will remain responsible for installation and maintenance as the additional points are brought into the network.