PEOPLE have told their local county councillor that the drive to increase the number of electric car charging points will have no effect on them because they will never be able to afford one of the vehicles.

Green councillor Chris McFarling, whose Sedbury division covers the area from the Welsh border and includes Redbrook, St Briavels and Alvington, said people also complained that the points take up spaces in car parks.

He also questioned giving initial priority to urban areas in Gloucestershire County Council’s plans to increase the number of charging points in the county.

He told the council’s environment scrutiny committee: “I have had protestations from residents in my division who say this is won’t help them because they will never be able to afford an electric vehicle.

“And so, the charging points are taking up car parking spaces and are compromising their ability to park.”

An update on the charging point project was given at the committee meeting last week with a “long list” of 51 potential sites in Gloucester and Cheltenham.

Cllr McFarling said: “I would challenge the provision of EVCPs (electric vehicle charging points) linked to population density.

“We in the Forest of Dean have to use a car.”

Cllr McFarling said he was also concerned about the financial viability of charging points in the Forest.

He said: ““In the Forest of Dean we are currently tasked with putting out electric vehicle charging points but at the moment they are not financially viable”, he said.

“The set up costs will not be met by the user charges for many, many years and we have to be careful that we target the user that will most likely make use of those charging points.

“Be it residents, or tourists and visitors who support the tourist economy in the Forest of Dean which is quite large.

“We are putting in charging points based on a number of criteria but ultimately they will only be used by those who have the money and can afford to buy an electric vehicle or lease one.

““We need to make the charging points financially sustainable and that’s the problem we are having in the Forest of Dean where we are using our own limited resources and we cannot make that work.”

Lib Dem councillor for Newent, Cllr Gill Moseley, said the Forest was “an absolute desert” in terms of rapid charging points.

The county council is also bidding for money from the government that is earmarked to provide charging points in rural areas.

But the committee was told that 42 local authorities were chasing the money but only five will be successful.

Ultra low emission vehicles programme manager Steve Lowe told councillors it takes around two hours of charge a day for a charging point to break even.

He explained that as the second hand market for electric vehicles develops, they will be more more affordable and more drivers are expected to buy them.

He said: “I understand that on the first phases we will go to areas where there is more of a demand but we’ve also got to bear in mind that the idea behind all of this is we can’t leave communities out because they say they aren’t well enough off to have an electric car.

“The second hand market is taking off and that’s going to drive a lot of these dense urban areas where they are maybe not quite as affluent. It won’t belong till we get to the stage where these chargers we are putting in the ground even in the more rural areas start getting to cover their costs or not far from it.

“Yes, it will take a while to cover the upfront costs but it’s just one of the things we’ve got to do to get the market started.”