News: Council's £6m tender for town centre car park upgrade
Rotherham Council is looking to hook up with a private sector firm who can install and run an EV charging station in a town centre car park.
Rothbiz reported in 2023 on plans use £1.29m from a government funding pot to create a Solar PV Canopy and EV charge point scheme at Drummond Street Car Park.
After Requests for Information (RFIs) related to this project were issued, tendering has now begun for a concession contract valued at £6.25m.
The fixed budget for the design & build of the Solar PV Canopy is £1,050,000 excluding VAT and the private sector firm are expected to make a minimum contribution for EV Infrastructure of £330,000 excluding VAT.
The contract holder would then run the concession with council figures estimating that revenue for the proposed 15 year period would be £4.158m excluding VAT.
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Tender documents explain: "Drummond Street Car Park is a 240-space pay-and-display surface car park well used by commuters and shoppers. It is situated on the edge of Rotherham Town Centre, across the road from the central markets complex and has approximately 2,000 households within a ten-minute walk time. The main town taxi rank is conveniently accessible from the car park and is approximately 200m away, as is the A630 with an annual average daily flow of 35,158 vehicles (2023)."
Initial designs showed a Solar PV Canopy and battery surrounded by 28 charging bays with a mix of size and charging speeds. Electricity for the EV chargers will be provided by Solar Photovoltaic (PV) arrays mounted on canopies covering up to 128 parking spaces.
The cash is coming from the Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (LEVI) pilot, when the government announced £56m in public and industry funding for increasing EV chargepoints across the country.
In March 2024, Rotherham Council's Cabinet approved a Public Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Strategy which sets out how the Council intends to improve the infrastructure network throughout the Borough and ensure a network which meets expected demand by 2040. This introduced a number of targets such as 95% of residences to be within 1.5 miles of a publicly available charge point by 2030 and 95% of residences within a ten-minute walk (or 800 meters/ approximately 0.5 mile) of a publicly available charge point by 2040.
The strategy followed on from Rotherham being allocated £231,582.44 to install priority charge points and an additional £112,077.76 to spend according to local need. South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA) allocated £1.85m from the Government ‘Getting Building Fund’ to promote Electric Vehicle (EV) uptake across the region.
The Council expected to pass 100 public charging bays during 24/25 but admitted that vandalism and cable theft is a significant challenge. A 2024 report showed that the targeting of Rapid chargers due to their cables has meant that at one time all three sites of Rapid chargers (providing 9 bays) in Council ownership were out of action.
The authority pledged that where there is a high risk of vandalism and anti-social behaviour, that only Fast chargers are installed as a temporary measure. Fast chargers are less expensive to maintain and do not have external cables which are often vandalised, removed and sold for scrap.
Images: Google Maps / RMBC
Rothbiz reported in 2023 on plans use £1.29m from a government funding pot to create a Solar PV Canopy and EV charge point scheme at Drummond Street Car Park.
After Requests for Information (RFIs) related to this project were issued, tendering has now begun for a concession contract valued at £6.25m.
The fixed budget for the design & build of the Solar PV Canopy is £1,050,000 excluding VAT and the private sector firm are expected to make a minimum contribution for EV Infrastructure of £330,000 excluding VAT.
The contract holder would then run the concession with council figures estimating that revenue for the proposed 15 year period would be £4.158m excluding VAT.
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Tender documents explain: "Drummond Street Car Park is a 240-space pay-and-display surface car park well used by commuters and shoppers. It is situated on the edge of Rotherham Town Centre, across the road from the central markets complex and has approximately 2,000 households within a ten-minute walk time. The main town taxi rank is conveniently accessible from the car park and is approximately 200m away, as is the A630 with an annual average daily flow of 35,158 vehicles (2023)."
Initial designs showed a Solar PV Canopy and battery surrounded by 28 charging bays with a mix of size and charging speeds. Electricity for the EV chargers will be provided by Solar Photovoltaic (PV) arrays mounted on canopies covering up to 128 parking spaces.
The cash is coming from the Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (LEVI) pilot, when the government announced £56m in public and industry funding for increasing EV chargepoints across the country.
The strategy followed on from Rotherham being allocated £231,582.44 to install priority charge points and an additional £112,077.76 to spend according to local need. South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA) allocated £1.85m from the Government ‘Getting Building Fund’ to promote Electric Vehicle (EV) uptake across the region.
The Council expected to pass 100 public charging bays during 24/25 but admitted that vandalism and cable theft is a significant challenge. A 2024 report showed that the targeting of Rapid chargers due to their cables has meant that at one time all three sites of Rapid chargers (providing 9 bays) in Council ownership were out of action.
The authority pledged that where there is a high risk of vandalism and anti-social behaviour, that only Fast chargers are installed as a temporary measure. Fast chargers are less expensive to maintain and do not have external cables which are often vandalised, removed and sold for scrap.
Images: Google Maps / RMBC
17 comments:
I did wonder about the cost of this scheme when I saw the article headline . Then I read the last para. I bet Eastwood's finest are already rubbing their hands at the prospect!
£6m for 28 charging points doesn't seem like a great use of public money. How many charges it will take to recoup the investment? (assuming of course they aren't butchered in the first month of operations!)
The £6m relates to the value of the contract not the amount the council is spending. Read the article again.
Waste of money anyhow,the electric car fad will soon die,petrol/diesel will be used for many years.Dont waste money!
Now, now Cam, give it a rest.
Thank you for sharing your dystopian optimism
It's being cheerful that keeps him going.
Perhaps you ought to re-read the comment. Nowhere was the council mentioned.
The original post asked "is £6m for 28 car parking spaces a good use of public money?"
£6m = £214,000 per charging point (approx)
Rapid charging points, charge in the region of £19 for 30 mins.
So please enlighten me, how long will it take to recoup the costs?
And in view of this, is it a good use of public money?
The future is.... Armageddon, but look on the bright side, we won't be wasting any tax payers money.
Well said Donald. Our only consolation is that this will upset your pal Muskow.
I thought we're been encouraged to cycle into the town centre?
No one is spending £6m. Again read the article .
The electrification of cars and greater use of cycles are not mutually exclusive alternatives. They are part of an overall strategy to reduce dangerous emissions.
Perhaps it's to charge electric bikes? 🤣
I thought the cycle lanes were free?
No they come out of the council tax paid by one of our more vociferous posters. The one who comments before reading the context.
There's only one?
Ah, that one.
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