Electric Vehicle Charging Strategy for Bedford Borough 2024 - 2027

Operation of charging bays

Respondents to our survey gave examples of when they had found chargepoints blocked by parked cars. We propose that new on-street chargepoints, like our existing ones, will have a dedicated bay defined by a Traffic Regulation Order (TRO). This means it will not be legal for cars to park in them unless they are charging.

For chargepoints in Council car parks, we do not propose to exempt drivers from parking fees. Doing so would mean we lose revenue that would have to be replaced from another source, or alternatively we would have to find a way to reduce spending on services. As EV uptake grows, this problem would get worse.

However, we recognise the frustration we heard from some respondents to our survey that charging EVs are not exempt from parking fees in Council car parks. We don't rule out consulting further on this issue in the future.