£135,000 project to install charging points across East Lindsey nears completion

Coun Steve Kirk with Judy Chapman at Skegness Swimming Pool car park.

East Lindsey District Council is installing 11 dual chargepoints at car parks throughout its district.

Points at Lawn Park and Swimming Pool, in Skegness; Post Office Lane, in Spilsby; Kiln Lane and Northgate East, in Louth; Queens Park Main and Seacroft Road, in Mablethorpe; The Broadway, in Woodhall Spa; and High Street/Silver Street, in Coningsby, are all live. The remaining points at South Street, in Alford, and at The Bain, in Horncastle, are set to go live by early March.

Their installation has been part funded through the Government’s Onstreet Residential Chargepoint Scheme, from which the district council successfully secured £95,000. The remainder of the funding, about £40,000, has been provided by the district council.

Coun Steve Kirtk at Queens Park, Mablethorpe.

The authority made the move to install the chargepoints in response to an increase in electric vehicle ownership across the UK and districtwide. It is also hoped that the move will encourage more residents to explore the possibility of owning an electric vehicle, as well as making the area more accessible to visitors who drive electric vehicles.

Portfolio holder for coastal economy Coun Steve Kirk, said: “It’s excellent that all our chargepoints will soon be online. They will be a massive benefit to our residents and visitors to the area.”

Leader of the Council Coun Craig Leyland, said: “I’m very pleased that we’re now able to offer electric vehicle charging facilities in a number of our car parks. We’ve seen an increase in the number of electric vehicles in the district and that’s only going to continue as the technology associated with them improves, so it’s vitally important that we’re ready for that.”

* Residents or visitors wishing to access the chargepoints can do so through the POLAR Network, the UK’s largest public charging network.

Coun Craig Leyland at The Broadway, Woodhall Spa.

Users have a choice of joining Polar Plus which allows customers to gain access to all chargepoints on the POLAR Network through an RFID card or key fob.

Alternatively users can access the points with a Pay As You Go app, POLAR instant.

While charging in the designated bays users will not have to pay for parking.

Live maps of chargepoints throughout the country are available at polar-network.com/live-map and www.zap-map.com/live