Northumberland County Council has approved adding 36 electric-vehicle charging points at 26 locations, extending the public charging network the authority already runs in the northeast of England.
The council passed a motion supporting the expansion. Of the new charge points, 78 per cent will be installed on land the council owns, while the rest will sit on third-party land under licensing agreements.
The installation programme is being financed with just over £1 million of external funding from the City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement, and that money is to be used to roll out the charge points until 2029. Operating costs are handled separately: revenue generated by the chargers will meet their running costs, management and maintenance.
The council's in-house EV team will install and maintain the equipment, according to the authority.
Cllr Richard Wearmouth, the cabinet member with responsibility for transport at Northumberland County Council, said it was good to see more investment in the county's charging provision. He noted that Northumberland has one of the largest road networks in the country and said it was vital to ensure the necessary facilities are in place to help people get around.
The charging announcement follows other sustainable transport investment in the region, after 14 BYD BD11 battery-electric buses entered service a few months earlier.
The county's geography shapes the case for public charging: it is a coastal region bordering Scotland and takes in Hadrian's Wall and Northumberland National Park, a mix of long-distance routes and dispersed settlements. The announcement did not specify charger power ratings or a site-by-site timetable for the 26 locations.