THE number of electric vehicle chargers planned for Helensburgh and Lomond will not be enough by 2035, a councillor has claimed.
A report revealed plans for an additional 10 charging points across the administrative area, in addition to the six already situated in Arrochar and at Helensburgh Waterfront.
But Cameron Foy, of Helensburgh Community Council, expressed concern to councillors and officials that the area was “lagging behind” a neighbouring area.
And Councillor Math Campbell-Sturgess (SNP, Helensburgh and Lomond South) voiced fears that the number would not be enough within the next decade.
The discussion took place at a meeting of Argyll and Bute Council’s Helensburgh and Lomond area committee on Tuesday, December 9.
Mr Foy said: “My concern is that we are lagging behind a bit. Although there will be a few more, it is not on the scale of other areas.
“West Dunbartonshire has about 18 in Balloch, and about 18-20 new ultra rapid chargers going in at Lomondgate.
“We have a handful in Helensburgh and a few more will be welcome, but will the committee welcome a more ambitious approach and a higher bank which could attract people to the town?”
Mark Calder, the council’s project manager, responded: “We have recently received just over £1m of funding from the Scottish Government for the whole of Argyll and Bute.
“We have a strategy in place at the moment looking at two themes. When we developed the original strategy it was based on those themes, and before we knew the funding position.
“Now that we know we have £1m to spend, it is to move to a model of a hub-based approach, with a bank of chargers in a central location. In Helensburgh, we would propose the pier, where the chargers are at the moment.
“I have been working on this project for three to four years and not had a lot of commercial interest, so absolutely this is a project I am responsible for.
“I absolutely note the point you make. We want to expand our network and we want to put chargers in the right places. But we do need to cut our cloth to the funding we have.”
Councillor Campbell-Sturgess then said: “I get the point about Balloch, but it gets 1.2m visitors a year, so it will have more chargers.
“We have a population of around 13,000 to 14,000, so if you take off the 20 per cent of people with no access to a car you are talking about 10,000 people. That is one charger per 1,000 people.
“It does seem a very small number compared to the possible users of electric cars in a few years’ time. A lot of housing stock in Helensburgh is not suitable unless you start installing roadside chargers.
“I get what you say about cutting our cloth, but we have to look at this in the future, because it is not going to be enough in 10 years’ time.”
