Electric vehicle charging coming to Wealden car parks

Electric Vehicle charging points are due to be installed in Wealden District Council car parks in the coming months.

Feasibility work has been underway at a number of car parks across the Wealden district by the council’s chosen provider, Connected Kerb, an electric vehicle charging contractor.

As part of phase one, Connected Kerb is currently reviewing 10 council owned and operated car parks for charging feasibility with the potential to expand to an additional 22 sites throughout Wealden in subsequent phases.

The first phase of locations includes Lower Road, Forest Row; The Willows, Alfriston; Croft Road, Crowborough; Mill Road, Heathfield; Luxford Road, Uckfield; North Road, Pevensey Bay; Greyhound, Wadhurst: and Horse Fields, East Dean.

Also included in this first phase are bays in the Vicarage Lane car park in Hailsham and bays in the South Road car park, also in Hailsham.

The installations are part of the council's ongoing efforts to support the transition to low carbon transport and to improve local air quality. ​The aspiration is that all residents who drive electric vehicles (EVs), or are considering making the switch, have convenient access to EV charging.​

Within Wealden there are currently 23 EV charge points distributed throughout the district and the council recognises the need to provide additional public charge points for residents – particularly as 24% of households with a vehicle park on the street overnight.

At the heart of Wealden District Council’s climate emergency declaration sits the requirement to transform its transport systems to low and zero emission alternatives, with the intention of working toward net-zero CO₂ by 2050 or earlier for both the council and the Wealden district area.

In 2020, transport emissions account for 44.9% of total Wealden district emissions – 16.5% higher than the national average.

Recent research has identified that the potential demand for EV charging across East Sussex will increase over the next 10 years with numbers of EVs locally going from 3,573 to 33,945 (by 2025), to 98,054 by 2030.

This is particularly relevant in Wealden where almost 40% of all EVs first registered in East Sussex in 2021 were in Wealden.

Councillor Pam Doodes, the council’s lead member for Climate Change, said, “It is really positive that our collaboration with Connected Kerb has taken a major step forward and we can announce the first phase of electric vehicle charging in our car parks will be coming soon.

“Enabling more people to easily recharge their electrical vehicles will be a significant step along the way to achieving our goal of reducing carbon output across the district.”

Town and parish councils will be invited to a webinar in the near future to ask questions and develop understanding around electric vehicle charging.