The Scrutiny Streets & Environment Sub-Committee was scheduled to discuss the borough's electric vehicle charging point strategy, financial performance, and budget proposals. The Sub-Committee was also expected to review responses from the cabinet regarding previous scrutiny recommendations and to discuss its work programme for the year.

Electric Vehicle Charging Point Strategy

The Sub-Committee was scheduled to receive an update on the draft Electric Vehicle Charging Point (EVCP) Strategy. The strategy sets out Croydon's approach to delivering an accessible and equitable EV charging network across the borough.

The draft strategy that was included in the Public reports pack noted that Croydon spans nearly 34 square miles with a population of approximately 409,340. It stated that approximately 49% of households in Croydon do not have access to off-street parking and therefore cannot currently charge EVs at home. The strategy aimed to support those residents to access public EV chargepoints near their home to give them the confidence to transition to an EV.

The Sub-Committee was scheduled to view a presentation on the EVCP strategy, which included the following points:

• The UK government has committed to net zero emissions by 2050.
• Nationally, transport is responsible for a greater proportion of emissions than any other sector, accounting for 30.5% of all UK emissions in 2022.
• As of the meeting date, there were 133 public electric vehicle charging point units on Croydon's public highway, with 20 additional units to be installed by 31 March 2026.
• The strategy addresses known challenges, including the absence of a clear, long-term delivery plan for public EV chargepoints across the borough, unclear management responsibilities for chargepoints during installation and operation, inequality of access to EVCPs across the borough and ensuring the charging offer meets user needs.
• The council would seek to deliver a blended model of chargepoint roll out to deliver 4,200 EVCPs by 2035 and needed Chargepoint Operators (CPOs) to help identify sites and deliver the right chargepoints.
• The council had secured £193,000 of grant funding to deliver cross pavement solutions across the borough and would pilot approximately 10 CPS installations for disabled drivers / Motability customers with EVs and a dedicated disabled bay.
• Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for new provider procurement would include operational metrics (charger availability rate, utilisation rate, energy delivered, fault frequency index, maintenance response time, average power per charger), financial metrics (average revenue per charging session, cost per kWh delivered, return on investment) and customer experience metrics (charge start success rate, session success rate, average session duration, waiting probability, customer satisfaction scores).

The Sub-Committee was asked to provide any comments or recommendations on the draft EVCP Strategy, ahead of Cabinet approval and progression through a structured development and engagement process.

Budget Scrutiny Challenge

As part of its assurance process on the 2026-27 council budget, the Scrutiny & Overview Committee asked the Streets & Environment Sub-Committee to identify and scrutinise specific budget proposals. The Sub-Committee was scheduled to review information and provide feedback on the following growth and savings proposals:

• Stabilisation Plan & 2026-30 SAV SCRER 002 Increased parking income from the Stabilisation Plan and from IT system improvements
• 2025-29 SAV SCRER 003 Digital transformation of planning, building control and regulatory services through the re-procurement of Uniform.

The report included in the Public reports pack stated that the Sustainable Communities, Regeneration & Economic Recovery (SCRER) directorate generates significant levels of income, particularly within the Planning and Regeneration and Street & Environment divisions. It noted that Planning and Regeneration were experiencing an under-achievement of income post Covid owing to lower activity levels to date in planning major applications and planning performance agreements, and that the Streets & Environment Division was currently over-achieving parking income by £1m as a direct result of London Councils increasing the charge for parking penalty notices.

The report stated that the Executive Mayor and Cabinet approved the Stabilisation Plan 2025 at the Cabinet Meeting on 25 June 2025, which set out action designed to further manage demand, reduce costs, increase income, and improve productivity as well as enable the delivery of the Council's Future Croydon Transformation Plan at a faster pace.

The plan put forward increased parking income of £1m resulting from the decision by London Councils to increase the charge payable for penalty charge notices, and that the income was on track to be fully delivered in 2025-26.

The report also noted that Parking Services currently operate on a legacy system implemented in 2010, which lacks modern functionality and does not meet current digital standards, and that the introduction of a new system was forecast to generate approximately £600,000 per annum through improved processes and increased recovery rates, although the system would incur an annual cost of around £300,000.

With regard to digital transformation, the report stated that this saving was originally envisaged as a number of cost savings across SCRER services that all use a single case management and workflow software system called Uniform, but that the focus was now on increasing income through fees for Building Control, Planning and other services.

The Sub-Committee was asked to review the information provided on the savings and growth proposals for the General Fund Budget and consider the feedback it wished to report to the Scrutiny & Overview Committee Budget Scrutiny session on 10 February 2025.

Period 7 Financial Performance Report

The Sub-Committee was scheduled to review the latest Financial Performance Monitoring report, to review by exception, with a view to considering whether it was reassured about the delivery of the 2025-26 Sustainable Communities, Regeneration & Economic Recovery Budget.

The report included in the Public reports pack noted that the Period 7 (October 2025) financial performance for General Fund revenue showed a forecast underspend of £24.4m against the 2025-26 budget, an improvement of £0.6m since Period 6.

The report stated that the council was forecast to achieve £25.0m of the Stabilisation Plan target in addition to £21.8m of the Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) savings, a forecast total of £46.8m cost efficiencies and income generation.

Cabinet Response to Scrutiny Recommendations

The Streets & Environment Sub-Committee was scheduled to review an up-to-date list of responses from Cabinet to recommendations made by the Sub-Committee.

Scrutiny Work Programme 2025-2026

The Streets & Environment Sub-Committee was asked to note the most recent version of its Work Programme, and consider whether there were any other items that should be provisionally added to the work programme as a result of the discussions held during the meeting.