A pilot project will see on-street electric vehicle charging points introduced in Wirral for the first time.

Wirral Council is about to start work on installing 40 new charging points in parts of Hoylake and Wallasey to make it easier for owners of electric or hybrid vehicles to stay charged up and to encourage more people to consider moving away from petrol and diesel.

The £100,000 scheme is being funded by a grant from OZEV – the Office for Zero Emissions Vehicles, formerly known as OLEV - and Wirral Council. It is part of the council's commitment to providing a network suitable for a greener future and meet the target in Wirral's climate strategy, Cool 2, of shifting to fossil fuel free local travel by around 2030.

The charging points will be installed by the council's contractor, SSE Enterprise, between the end of July and September of this year and residents will be able to use them once they are all installed and switched on from October 2021.

The locations of the units have been chosen based on a survey carried out in 2019 that asked residents where they would most like to see electric vehicle charging points.

Cllr Liz Grey, Chair of the Environment, Climate Emergency and Transport committee for Wirral Council, said:

"While electric vehicles are not the primary solution to climate emergency issues, it is important that we do what we can to encourage those who have to travel by car to do so without causing as much air pollution or GHG emissions - this pilot project will take us a step closer in that regard. A big part of our climate emergency action plan is to work towards a future with far more active travel and better public transport."

More information on how to use the charging points will be released ahead of the units being available for use.