- The UK government is cutting back on planning laws surrounding public and private EV charging points, in a hope to further boost growing electric vehicle adoption in the country.
- From today, most drivers and businesses will no longer need a planning application to install an EV charger socket.
- The change should help bring further increases to the 80,000 public chargepoints already live in the UK.
UK EV charging infrastructure set to grow further with legislative change
The UK already has over 80,000 public chargers on the network, and that growth has continued. The Department for Transport estimates that in April alone, 3,000 public chargers were added to the UK’s network – equating to one new charging point being installed every 29 minutes. With these new changes to planning law, the government is hoping to accelerate that rate of growth even further.
The changes should also help supercharge electric car adoption amongst the early mainstream. Not only will an increasing number of public chargers inspire driver confidence, but easier installation processes for home EV chargers should help even more drivers to make the switch. Alongside this, the government confirmed that it would maintain the £350 EV chargepoint grant, eligible to specific households such as flat owners, renters, and those without off-street parking.
With the government banning the sale of new petrol and diesel cars from 2030 (with a 2035 exception for hybrids), policy changes such as this one will be crucial for achieving this target. However, the industry is continuing to call for additional charging policy changes, such as a recommendation to reduce VAT on public charging from 20% to 5%, bringing it into line with the tax paid on home charging – a proposal backed by organisations such as the SMMT and FairCharge.
Future of Roads Minister, Lilian Greenwood, commented:
“We’re cutting down on paperwork to power up the EV revolution so that drivers, businesses and those looking to make the switch will have more chargepoints to power from, and less red tape to deal with. We continue to make the switch to EVs easier, cheaper and better by investing over £2.3bn to support drivers and back British carmakers through international trade deals – creating jobs, boosting investment and securing our future as part of our Plan for Change.”
How has the industry reacted?
Lewis Gardiner, Operations Director at Osprey Charging Network, commented:
“This is a hugely welcome and practical change that will make a real difference on the ground. Removing the need for planning permission for essential electrical infrastructure like substations across the majority of sites will save months of delays, reduce costs, and accelerate the delivery of the rapid charging hubs drivers need.
It’s the result of months of collaboration between industry and Government, and we’re proud to have played a key role in making it happen.”
Patrick Dunne, Sainsbury’s Chief Property and Procurement Officer and MD of Smart Charge, added:
“Everyone at Smart Charge knows how important it is to make EV charging simple, reliable and accessible – both to make transport cleaner and to ensure we’re meeting the everyday needs of drivers throughout the UK.
We welcome this new streamlined approach to installing charge points, which will help accelerate the nation’s adoption of EVs.”
