Oswestry Town Council back electric car charging idea

Officers at Oswestry Town Council will look into the feasibility of the proposal after Councillor Paul Milner's notice of motion was supported at a meeting on Wednesday night.

He said that charging points in the council-owned car parks would help to make the town more attractive to visitors and that the nearest one is some 40 miles away.

Councillor Mike Isherwood said: "I think this should be something on the council's to do list. We shouldn't wait until another 10, 20 or 30 per cent of people are driving electric and hybrid cars.

"We should do it now and show that we are a progressive town on this kind of issue."

Members will be asked to vote on the idea at a future meeting once council officers have looked into the cost.

But, the Mayor of Oswestry, councillor Vince Hunt, questioned whether enough people would use the equipment to justify spending the money.

"I know one or two people with electric cars, so not a whole lot," he said.

"My guess is that it would be extremely expensive so would like to see if the costs an be recouped.

"In 2040 I think it's something probably worth looking at, but at the moment I don't think they would be well used."

If the plans do go ahead it would make Oswestry only the second town in Shropshire to have a charging station in a public car park.

The initiative has been successful in Church Stretton and the charging station there has just has its 1,000 powering-up.

Currently, the town boasts Shropshire's only charging station available on a public car park 24 hours a day, as local green group Stretton Climate Care got together with Shropshire Council, Church Stretton Town Council and the Midcounties Co-operative store at Lion Meadow in the town centre.

The car park is council-run, but the charging points are hosted at the Midcounties store that sits next to it, and now those behind the drive to get it installed are celebrating the success of the scheme.

It first went line in June 2014.

The Church Stretton-based environmental charity part-funded the station with aid from a government grant and Midcounties Co-operatives freely supplies its electricity to run the facility, Mr Wrench said.