North Yorkshire Council's plans to install hundreds of electric vehicle (EV) chargers across the county have been "paused not abandoned", say council chiefs.
The authority has received more than £8m in government funding to install a network of “accessible and affordable” EV chargers to help both residents and visitors.
Council chiefs were due to appoint an operator to install the chargers last year.
However, it has now emerged that work on the roll-out has been halted.
An EV industry website claimed the plans had been “abandoned” by the authority, but council chiefs say they is not correct.
The council’s corporate director for environment, Karl Battersby, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service:
“Our aim remains to deliver a high-quality, charging network across North Yorkshire that is also good value for money and relevant.
“The project has not been abandoned; it has been paused while we review the approach in the light of changes in the market since the process began in 2024.
“The £8m funding remains in place and work is already underway to procure a new contractor to get moving on this important scheme.”
Councillor David Noland, Green Party member for the Skipton North and Embsay-with-Eastby division, called on the council to speed up its efforts to increase EV charger numbers.
He said:
“Our residents and businesses need action on car charging now – we’re a huge area, mostly rural, and we have huge charging deserts.
“Until we’ve put in the infrastructure, we’re locking residents out of transition, and locking them into the dark ages of the combustion engine.
“Yes, we need to be careful with money but that should have been considered when tendering. The EV market has been changing for years – it’s not a surprise. And it’s not just electricity that’s gone up in price – energy has rocketed across the board.”
Cllr Noland said the council also needed to help households living in terraced houses or flats who can afford an electric vehicle but are #unable to use the cheapest night-time rates “without trailing cables across pavements”.
He added:
“We’ve declared a climate emergency — we need to stop dithering and seize the opportunities that tackle it."
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