IN ANOTHER POLICY U-TURN the Tory-led Government are scrapping a previous pledge to provide a network of electric vehicle charging points.

Brighton & Hove currently has 2 charging points in the city and could have been in line for more under plans which were dropped yesterday, in favour of users finding their own sources for recharging.

Local Labour & Co-op Leader Gill Mitchell has written to the city’s two Tory MPs calling on them to put pressure on their Government to reverse this U-turn and will be seeking assurances from the Green Council that they will not similarly drop their pledges to provide electric vehicle charging points.

In April 2009, the Labour government announced a £250 million grant scheme, giving up to £5k to subsidise the cost of buying an electric car for the first 46,000 Electric Vehicles sold. However, a year later the new coalition government immediately cut the number of subsidies, supporting only the first 8,600 buyers, with a reduced budget of £43 million.

Locally, Labour & Co-op Councillors pledged to install charging points to keep up with demand, in their recent manifesto. The city’s Local Transport Plan also features this provision and council officers have said that demand is steadily increasing.

The decision has also been criticised by consumer groups, such as Brighton & Hove’s Elektromotive who, in a recent survey, found that two-thirds of consumers said they would be more likely to buy a battery-powered car if there were more charging points along roadsides and in public car-parks.

Brighton & Hove Labour & Co-operative Leader, Councillor Gill Mitchell, said:

“I am extremely concerned at government plans to drop not only a Labour policy, but also a manifesto pledge and a coalition agreement to commit to a network of electric vehicle charging points. That’s why I’m calling on our two Tory MPs to urge their Government colleagues to reverse this cut.

“This Tory-led Government has made U-turn after U-turn- especially when it comes to the environment- which they seem to be trying to steer off the agenda. It’s a shame they haven’t got the same enthusiasm for reducing carbon emissions as they have with too hastily reducing the deficit.

“Industry figures have predicted that 2011 will be a “breakthrough” year for electric vehicle technology and if this government really were the greenest ever, then they would remain committed to cutting carbon emissions and investing in this green technology.”