Electric cars can reduce pollution and save motorists up to £1,000 a year compared with petrol-powered alternatives. The number sold across the UK has trebled in the last year, and looks set to skyrocket.
But with few Camden homes having garages or drives, most residents would need to use public, on-street charging points. And Camden has one of the smallest networks of publicly-available electric vehicle charging points in central London.
Labour-run Camden installed just 24 in the past recent twelve months: an insignificant fraction of the 539 installed by Conservative-run Westminster and 238 installed by Conservative-run Kensington & Chelsea.
Camden needs a dramatic expansion of electric vehicle charging points.
The Government has given local councils millions of pounds to install these points. Because of this, the cost to Camden Council of installing a new charging point in an existing lamp-post for less than £1,000.
That means Camden could install 2,000 in current lamp-posts, in a way that doesn’t block the street or require extensive engineering, for less than 10% of the amount it spends on transport every year!
For the last four years, Camden’s opposition Conservative local councillors have tabled plans to install 2,000 electric vehicle charge points, but have been voted down by Camden’s Labour and Lib Dem majority.
Scroll down to see our proposal and sign the petition for Camden to go electric.