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RESOLVED: Cabinet:
1.    
Approved the draft West Northamptonshire Electric
Vehicle Infrastructure Strategy, as set out in Appendix
A.
2.    
Authorised procurement of a contract or contracts to
deliver electric vehicle infrastructure in line with the intentions
of the Strategy.
 
REASONS RESOLVED:
1.    
To set out a clear approach for delivering EV
infrastructure across West Northamptonshire.
2.    
To support the Council’s goals for a cleaner
local and global environment, including improving air quality and
contributing to tackling climate change.
3.    
To maximise the benefits to local residents from the
transition to EVs.
4.    
To maximise the opportunity for the Council, and
thus residents, to benefit financially from use of the
Council’s assets for EV infrastructure.
 
ALTERNATIVE OPTIONS:
1.    
The Council could choose not to adopt the Strategy.
However, doing so could pose risk to the LEVI capability funding
that has been secured. A key aim of this funding is to support
Councils in the effective delivery of EVI strategies. Without
adoption of the strategy, the Council risks missing out on vital
resources necessary for planning and implementation.
2.    
The Council could choose to develop and the manage
the infrastructure itself. This will pose significant risks as the
Council does not have experience developing and running these
schemes. The Council may also be unable to secure the same
competitive prices that the CPOs benefit from as the number of
chargers to be installed is relatively insignificant compared to
the number of chargers the CPOs install every year. Likewise, the
Council would either have to borrow to extend the impact of the
LEVI delivery grant funding, estimating the likely level of return,
or only install the chargers the grant itself would cover. The
first of these sub-options appears to expose the Council to
significant financial risks in a market it does not know well; the
second would limit the availability of chargers and mean the
Council did not maximise advantage from the use of its land for
charging.
3.    
The Council could choose to partner with the private
sector to rollout and manage the infrastructure under mutually
agreed specifications and conditions defined under a contract. This
will enable the Council to implement the Strategy, steer the
rollout of the infrastructure and benefit from the private sector
experience with installing, running and maintaining electric
vehicles chargers. This will also allow the Council to generate
income as part of a profit share. This is the approach set out in
the Strategy.
4.    
Another option is to let the private sector take the
lead and respond to our residents need wherever there is a demand.
This can cause three issues; the first one is that the Council will
have limited control on the development of this infrastructure.
Second, the chargers will not be installed to drive the demand up,
but they will rather be installed to respond to