Councillor asks questions on cross-pavement EV charging

Fife Council is being urged to explain whether it registered interest in a Scottish Government pilot designed to help households without driveways charge electric vehicles safely at home.

Cllr Bailey-Lee Robb, Depute Leader of the SNP Group on Fife Council has written to the Council’s Head of Roads and Transportation Services seeking answers on the Transport Scotland Cross Pavement Charging Grant pilot.

The pilot, announced last year and delivered by the Energy Saving Trust, offers households without driveways grants of up to £3,500 to install safe cross-pavement charging, such as flush-fitted gullies or pop-up solutions. East Lothian and Renfrewshire are understood to be already accepting permit applications, and the results will feed into national guidance.

Cllr Robb’s letter asks whether Fife registered interest, if not then why not, whether the Council can still join retrospectively, when a policy will come before full Council, and whether it will be treated as a priority.

Cllr Robb said:

“This is an issue that matters to Fifers, including constituents in my own ward who have contacted me directly. Many households in Cowdenbeath and across Fife have no driveway or off-street parking, and they are asking why the opportunities available elsewhere in Scotland are not available to them.

“Without a safe, approved way to charge at home, they are effectively locked out of cheaper home charging and the transition to electric vehicles. Cables across pavements are a trip hazard, particularly for wheelchair users, parents with prams and people with sight loss, and the Council has a duty to offer a safe alternative.

“Other authorities are learning fast from early trials, and Fife should be learning with them rather than waiting to be told what to do. I am urging the Council to get ahead of the curve, learn from the pioneers and be innovative for the sake of Fifers.

“After years of warm words from the Labour administration on climate and transport, residents deserve action, not another policy left to gather dust.”

Cllr Robb also points to the Council’s own EV Strategy, which recognises that Fife has limited capital to deliver charging infrastructure itself. He argues that cross-pavement solutions are one of the few approaches where the cost falls mainly on the householder, supported by national grant funding, and that a well-designed permit scheme could widen access at very little cost to the public purse.

Without action, he warns, Fife residents risk a postcode lottery in which neighbouring areas offer solutions their own communities cannot.