A PILOT of electric vehicle (EV) chargepoints is being launched as part of Northumberland County Council’s commitment to make electric vehicles more accessible.  

On-street chargepoints have been installed at seven locations across the county including at Westgate in Haltwhistle, Corbridge Main Street, Bellingham Centre, First Avenue in Ashington, Main Street in Felton, Parade car park in Berwick and Clayport Street in Alnwick.

The council said the chargers are mostly suited to overnight charging for residents who do not have access to off-street parking - and therefore cannot have private chargers installed - but they can also be used for visitors to top up where needed. 

The chargepoints represent the council’s first move towards ‘on-street’ curbside EV charging and if the pilot is successful, more of these chargepoints will be rolled out in other areas in the county. 

Council leader, Glen Sanderson, said: “It’s fantastic to see the progress we are making with EV infrastructure in Northumberland. EVs are much better for the environment as they give off less pollution and greenhouse gases and it’s imperative that we look at more sustainable ways to get around our large and rural county. 

“We know that there is still much more work to do in order to make EVs more accessible to more people in the county, but we are certainly heading in the right direction”. 

Northumberland County Council aims to have 30 per cent of cars in the county electric by 2030.

County councillor for Bellingham John Riddle said: “It’s great to see more sustainable transport becoming more and more widespread in the county. It’s so important we have EV chargers that are accessible to everyone and not only those people with off-road parking such as driveways or garages. I look forward to seeing these being installed in other areas in the near future.”  

The official launch event took place in Bellingham with Hexham MP Guy Opperman, Coun. Riddle and representatives from the council’s climate change team and installation company Connected Kerb in attendance. 

Mr Opperman said: “Northumberland County Council is doing brilliant work in extending our county’s EV infrastructure. It’s great to see more chargepoints becoming available, not only for our residents, but also for visitors to Northumberland. Having better provision for EV is a massive boost for our tourism.” 

The chargers are supplied by London-based Connected Kerb and have been funded by the Office for Zero Emission Vehicles (OZEV) On Street Residential Chargepoint Scheme (ORCS) together with Northumberland County Council.