Minutes:
The following question was received from Councillor Brown:
In April 2019 MSDC committed to provide 26 charging points in 10 off-street car parks. Now we discover, at scrutiny committee for Leader, Finance and Performance, that the West Sussex County Council Electric Vehicle Strategy 2019-2030, (the platform for providing these chargers), has run aground. A bidder was selected but a contract was not signed and the process was abandoned on legal advice.
The Scrutiny Committee were advised that ownership of the underground cables was the stumbling block with the successful bidder. It was emphasised that EV chargers are a highway infrastructure matter. Since MSDC car parks are not public highways the responsibility for them and what happens in them and in the ground under them must be a Mid Sussex responsibility.
UK Power Networks now offer a simple Electric Vehicle Notification process to design and provide suitable connections to the electricity grid. The selected bidder, would design and install the grid connections, metering and cabling for the EVCPs, but it is simply not reasonable to expect them to assume ownership of these cables and connections.
Thinking about the reliability of the existing electric vehicle chargers and lack of penalties for failure of the contractor to maintain them, it’s all very well saying that following a failure, they will be put back within a certain time frame. This mistake was made in 2017. We need a ‘carrot and stick’ arrangements which will award for good performance and penalise for non-performance.
Will the revised enquiry be amended to achieve agreement with a selected bidder on the infrastructure ownership and reliability issues?
Please advise if MSSC have revisited the original 2019 decision concerning the number of chargers and their locations in the light of the Electric Vehicle Strategy; the failure of the bidding process; the huge increases in electric cars anticipated; climate emergency; and funding streams from the Government?
When is it now expected that a contractor will be appointed and that new and replacement EV chargers will be in service in MSDC public carparks?
Response from the Cabinet Member for Environment and Service Delivery
Thank you for your questions. This matter has been explained at length and on numerous occasions, but I will confirm again:
Taking each of your points
- Yes, you are correct Cllr Brown, what happens in MSDC car parks is a matter for this Council.
- Yes you are correct that it would not be reasonable for this Council to hand ownership rights of underground infrastructure within our carparks to the supplier or to have to pay to retain them at the end of a contract. This is why we did not proceed with awarding the contract when this was demanded in the final stages of procurement process.
- Yes, the new tender, which is currently live, is very clear on the requirement that this and the other Councils involved, will retain ownership of any underground EV cabling infrastructure installed as part of the contract at the end of the contract.
- The original decision about the initial locations and numbers of the first phase of EV installation in MSDC car parks remains valid. We are committed to working in partnership with the new supplier, WSCC and the other West Sussex D&Bs, to develop a comprehensive charging network across the District, including but not limited to our own car park estate, and we expect the number of chargers available to our residents to increase year on year in line with the development of that network over the lifetime of the contract.
- It is expected that the supplier contract will be in place in September with first installations, subject to final site assessments and UKPN, by the end of this financial year with replacements for the current chargers which have had operational issues as a priority.
Councillor Brown asked a subsequent question on why MSDC is pursuing this with West Sussex County Council if ownership is with the Council. The Cabinet Member agreed to provide a written response.