Upset over six charging points planned for residential road in Bognor Regis
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The new charging points are being built on Wood Street after £1.8 million was awarded to the West Sussex Chargepoint Network, which is providing electric vehicle (EV) charging points for residents in areas with no off-street parking.
The award will part fund 450 on-street charge points and 100 in public car parks throughout the county, with the remainder of the cost covered by Connected Kerb – a leading chargepoint provider.
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Hide AdIt’s hoped the grant will help encourage motorists in West Sussex to make the environmentally-conscious decision to switch to electric vehicles, but residents on Wood Street feel plans to introduce charging points to their road are wholly inappropriate.
"None of us here are against the green initiative – it's all the right stuff,” said resident Sharon Swinden. “But this isn’t the right place for it.
“This is a road that already has parking problems. It’s one way and very narrow, we only have enough space for cars to go up the middle. Plus we'd lose six parking spaces, and people would be able to use these spaces night or day, in a completely residential area – we’d hear everything. It's complete madness.”
Alongside the other residents, Mrs Swinden has suggested a more central spot for the charging points.
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Hide Ad"We’ve got places like West Park that has a little car park with it, which would be ideal. That’s a place where they won’t interfere with residents. You can drive up, plug yourself in and go for a walk or whatever without disturbing residents like us.”
Although three locations have been proposed for Littlehampton – on Wick Farm Road, Fitzalan Road and Beaumont Park – the Wood Road site is currently the only proposal for Bognor Regis.
This has led some residents to question why Wood Street has been singled out for the proposal, as well as why Littlehampton is currently set to benefit more from the scheme.
Chargepoints have already been commissioned for a number of sites across the county, including Horsham, Burgess Hill and Billingshurst. Residents are invited to suggest other locations for chargepoints, and feedback to Connected Kerb by visiting www.connectedkerb.com or emailing [email protected]