Officers have been asked to explore the possibility of introducing charges for using electric vehicle ports, with a particular focus on South Lake Leisure Centre in Craigavon.
It comes amid complaints and claims that the free EV points there are being ‘abused’ by “an individual”.
It was Sinn Fein Councillor Catherine Nelson who asked for further investigation, when Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council’s environmental committee sat on Tuesday night.
She said: “I have had a number of complaints and I have spoken with management on this. Basically what we have is a situation in South Lakes where there is an individual parking there all day and then driving off on a bike and staying there from literally ‘9 to 5′.
“The reality of that is, whilst I loved our intention of keeping these free, and I really did buy into that initially, unfortunately that is then open to abuse.
“Therefore, the impact that we want to have, which is quick change over, people using the centre, getting the ability to use this, environmentally friendly, it’s just not happening.”
And requesting that the matter be looked at – and looked at urgently – Councillor Nelson added: “Could I ask that we explore either introducing costs or, indeed, that someone has to go into reception, perhaps that we look at a time token, but if we could look at options I would fully support at this stage cost being introduced.
“Can I also ask that it’s not caught up in a wider council review of car ports, because this is becoming a real issue for people. Official complaints have been received and formal complaints being looked at, as well as freedom of information requests. Let’s get ahead of it.”
Director of Environmental Services and Sustainability Jonathan Hayes said he was “content that we try to expedite a solution” in relation to Craigavon, adding that they had noted the concerns of customers in this particular matter.
He said: “Certainly we are happy to look at this as a specific item but equally, obviously, we want to look at the wider context around our off-street and on-street car parks as well and our facility car parks.”
Committee chair, Sinn Fein Councillor Sarah Duffy, also asked if the committee could have an update on what plans there are for EV chargers and council-owned building car parks.
She added: “There’s two at the Palace that I know. There’s none here at the Civic Centre. And with more and more people making that move to EV, what forward planning is being done to make sure that our staff and visitors have adequate provision?”.
Mr Hayes explained it fed into a wider review of parking but confirmed “that is something that we have started to look at”.
He continued: “I think it is that coordinated and consistent approach around the provider, the charge points, looking at tariffs and the options associated with that. I’m happy to maybe take a further report back to committee, in the hopefully not too distant future, in relation to an approach that maybe council and members could consider.”
Sinn Fein Councillor Mary O’Dowd raised the issue of pricing.
She said she had sent an email “quite a while back” asking for costings to have EVs and what the charge was to council.
“If they’re getting free at South Lakes, what is that costing the council, because there’s nowhere else that they get them free?,” she remarked, before receiving an assurance it would be followed up with the director and head of department in health and recreation and response brought back.
DUP Councillor Paul Greenfield said the issue of EV charging points had “changed drastically over the last number of years”.
“They were all free originally, even in public places right across and I know that’s changed now,” he said.
He explained charging points could now charge vehicles in 10 or 15 minutes and there was a “massive difference in prices”.
“Just be careful that we don’t price ourselves out of it,” he advised. “That’s no good for folks coming in because I still think we need chargers that people just top up while they’re there and move on. I think there is a wider piece of work around it all.”
While he agreed with free charging points, he also accepted that motorists should not be allowed to “park there all day in one spot”.
