Heriot Row

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Availability of Electric vehicle (EV) Chargers : Heriot Row / East London Street

Adapted from an email sent to all City centre councillors on 23 February. 

As you may have noticed, the EV chargers on Heriot Row and East London Street have been barriered off and are no longer available. We were advised that the chargers have been removed so that stone setts could be added to the concrete plinths on which the chargers had been installed a few months ago.

Apparently this is being driven by heritage concerns.

As far as we are aware there is no plan to change out the very non-heritage chargers themselves. This is simply about making their bases more visually attractive.

While the reason for this work on Heriot Row could be justified on heritage grounds, it would seem to make no sense on East London Street as that side of the road is outside both the World Heritage Site and the New Town Conservation Area.

Also, there is nothing on the Council website to inform users that these have been taken out of service. Given that they are the only Rapid Chargers in this area of the city, this could cause issues for users.

We find it hard to believe that this work is proceeding in the current financial climate and would ask for a response to the following questions:

  • Who approved this work?
  • How much is it costing?
  • When will units be back in service?

On a separate matter, in addition to the concerns raised at the recent NTBCC meeting regarding the lack of clear notification about the overstay penalties (as covered here), ChargePlace Scotland have recently introduced a minimum charge of £1.00 which applies even if no current has been drawn. Users have reported that they have experienced problems connecting to the chargers and have been charged the minimum fee for these failed connections. This is surely not what was intended.

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Electric Vehicle (EV) Charging Points – NTBCC’s Initial Experience

NTBCC supported the initiative by Edinburgh Council in principle to roll-out additional EV charging points in the New Town following their successful bid for funding from the Scottish Government in 2021. This initiative formed part of the high level ‘City Mobility Plan’ proposal to install more electric vehicle charging points across the New Town and other peripheral locations.

For context, Edinburgh Council were awarded a grant of £2.2m from Transport Scotland through the ‘Switched on Towns and Cities Fund’ for installing electric vehicle (EV) on-street chargers across Edinburgh – a total of 66 on-street charging points would be put in across the city as part of the first phase of implementation. Work was expected to be complete with all chargers operational by Spring 2022 although this was delayed by a few months for installations within NTBCC’s area.

The Switched on Towns and Cities Fund aimed to facilitate a step change in the uptake of plug-in electric vehicles (EVs) in Scotland’s towns and cities. Its objective was to incentivise, encourage and promote the use of plug-in EVs.

Three of the streets selected as part of this initiative fell within NTBCC’s area: East London Street, India Street and Heriot Row. A further installation was also planned for Montgomery Street (4 chargers with 8 bays), just outside NTBCC’s area.

We did question the wisdom behind the proposal to install an EV charge point at the bottom of India Street and this was subsequently removed from the scope.

We also offered advice, following discussions with local residents, regarding the specific locations selected as well as the types of EV charge points being proposed; however following some delays in commissioning,  the EV charge points have been installed and are now all in operation as originally proposed (with the exception of India Street as mentioned). 

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NTBCC minutes Monday 8 November 2021

Actions and decisions are red italic. ND (‘no dissent’) means that no-one spoke or voted against a decision.

Edinburgh Council has stated that ‘CCs can approve minutes, and take other decisions, remotely’, as so long as they ensure that ‘remote meetings are as accessible to members of the public and (as) well-advertised as possible’. Continue reading →

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Response to Edinburgh Council’s Advertised Order for On-Street EV Charging Places (TRO/21/24)

The Traffic Regulation Order for the ‘Introduction of EV Charging Points’  across Edinburgh as covered under TRO/21/24 was open for comments until 10 December. Following discussions with local residents within the proposed areas, the New Town & Broughton Community Council  (NTBCC) made the following response to proposals for EV charging bays within NTBCC’s area. 

The New Town and Broughton Community Council (NTBCC) welcomes the rollout of on-street public electric vehicle (EV) charging capacity across the city and in particular within the NTBCC area.  The Traffic Regulation Order (TRO) indicates that ‘charging places’ will be established on three streets within NTBCC’s area but provides very little other detail about what will be installed and how access to these charging points will be controlled.

The published details of this TRO with proposed sites relevant to the NTBCC area can be viewed here (link now corrected)

We would also note that following initial positive discussion with  the Council officials responsible for the roll-out of the charging places across Edinburgh, at which we were able to obtain answers to many of our questions , and  we also noted the willingness of Council officials to consider changes to some of these proposals, NTBCC looks forward to continuing dialogue with the EV Charging Team on these matters.

However, with regard to the TRO as lodged, we have the following comments on the three proposed locations for the charging bays in our area.

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Electric Vehicle Charging Points : More Details on Proposed TROs

Further details following the initial post on our website on this subject and reflecting subsequent discussions at the 8 November NTBCC meeting on the Council’s proposal for installing Electric Vehicle (EV) charging points across Edinburgh – which NTBCC and most residents welcome in principle but have some concerns about the precise locations being proposed.

The Council has recently issued a draft Traffic Regulation Order, TRO/21/24 , for the the initial stage of consultation on the installation of on-street electric vehicle (EV) charging places on 11 streets across the City. These include placing EV charging points in Montgomery Street, Kings Road, Sheriff Brae, Fettes Avenue, Comely Bank Terrace, India Street, Heriot Row, Stewart Terrace, Thirlestane Road, Maxwell Street and East London Street.

Three of these streets fall within our area – being East London Street, India Street and Heriot Row. A further installation is planned for Montgomery Street (4 chargers with 8 bays), just outside NTBCC’s area.

The proposed locations for these charging points  within NTBCC”s area can be seen from the reproduced PDFs below . (Click the thumbnails to see the full-size PDFs.)

East London Street

Heriot Row

India Street

The proposed locations for the remainder of the EV charging points in this initial phase across Edinburgh can be accessed here

NTBCC intend to submit comments on this TRO (covering the 3 installations within NTBCC’s area) following several concerns being raised by residents and residents’ associations – the deadline for submitting comments as part of the initial consultation being 15 November.

If you have comments on this proposal that you would want the community council to take into account, please contact us via this link.

There will be a further opportunity to register your comments before the final details are agreed.

 

 

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Edinburgh Council’s Proposal for On-street EV Charging Facilities

The Council has recently issued a draft Traffic Regulation Order (TRO/21/24) for the initial stage of consultation on the installation of on-street electric vehicle (EV) charging places on 11 streets across the City.

As background – the Council have been awarded £2.2m of funding from Transport Scotland through the ‘Switched on Towns and Cities Fund’ for installing electric vehicle (EV) on-street chargers across Edinburgh – a total of 66 on-street charging points will be put in across the city as part of the first phase of implementation. Work is expected to be complete with all chargers operational by Spring 2022.

Three of these streets fall within our area: East London Street, India Street and Heriot Row. A further installation is planned for Montgomery Street (4 chargers with 8 bays), just outside NTBCC’s area.

Apart from the location, dimensions of the charging places and the type of charger (KW), the TRO provides very little detail about what will be installed. We’re aware that some residents have already questioned the precise locations of these installations.

From a separate Council website to provide information about the roll out of EV charging, we understand that a total of 8 chargers will service 16 charging bays at the above streets. Also at the Transport and Environment Committee meeting on 14th October, it was reported that a contract had been awarded to BP Pulse to install the EV chargers. Their website shows three different designs for their chargers. We will be seeking clarification from the Council about what exactly will be installed in the Edinburgh World Heritage site and / or the New Town Conservation Area.

This topic will be on the agenda for the next NTBCC meeting on 8 November but in the meantime if you have any comments about these plans please do let us know (via the ‘Contact Us’ facility on our website here and respond to the consultation by writing to TRO.Consultations@edinburgh.gov.uk.

You can also write to the team responsible for the EV charging project at electricvehicles@edinburgh.gov.uk.

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NTBCC meeting agenda Monday 8 November

Agenda for online meeting: 6:45pm for 7.00pm start

We very much welcome members of the public joining the meeting (using the Zoom platform).

Registration will be via Eventbrite – please click link below

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/new-town-broughton-community-council-meeting-monday-8-november-2021-tickets-203345962247

Log-in details/Zoom link will then be emailed to all those who have registered.

Anyone who wants to raise an issue for discussion can do so either by submitting a Contact Us form or send a message via Twitter @NTBCC. Continue reading →