City centre EV charging hub proposals submitted

A retail park could soon be home to what would be one of the biggest electric vehicle (EV) charging hubs in Bradford city centre if plans are approved.

A planning application to fit 10 ultra-rapid EV charging bays at Bradford Forster Square Retail Park has been submitted to Bradford Council.

The plans, by PoGo Charging, are for a row of parking spaces in part of the retail park next to Hamm Strasse, which the application said was "strategically located" to boost electric vehicle infrastructure in the city.

The bays would replace 19 spaces in the car park – a loss of nine spaces - but the application argued there was an ample number of other spaces available for drivers throughout the car park.

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, the proposal for the EV charging bays stated it was "of significant merit as it will improve customer offer and experience on site to meet customer demand by enabling the provision of electric vehicle charging".

"The facility will provide strategically located electric vehicle charging bays for EVs, reducing CO2 emissions from road transport and reducing oil dependency as a transport fuel.

"This proposal provides the opportunity to meet targets for greenhouse gas reduction from road transport, improving air quality standards and increasing the use of alternative fuels by domestic drivers."

The application said a recent report had found there were an increasing number of EV charging points being created across the UK, but it added: "Notably, these charge points are largely in the South and in urban areas, and are not equally distributed throughout the UK."

Commenting on the plans, Bradford Council's clean air team said the charging bays would "support the council's wider carbon reduction programmes".

A decision on the application was expected to be made by the authority in May.

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