Bradford city centre retail park to get EV chargers

A BRADFORD city centre retail park could soon be home to ten ultra rapid EV charging bays.

A planning application to fit the charging spaces in the existing car park at Bradford Forster Square Retail Park has been submitted to Bradford Council by PoGo Charging.

If approved, it will be one of the biggest EV charging hubs in the city centre.

The plans are for a row of parking spaces in the South section of the retail park, next to Hamm Strasse and a site that the application says is “strategically located” to boost electric vehicle infrastructure in the city.

It is the latest in a series of EV charging bays to be proposed for the District.

The planning application says: “It is considered that the submitted application is of significant merit as it will improve customer offer and experience on site to meet customer demand by enabling the provision of electric vehicle charging.

“The facility will provide strategically located electric vehicle charging bays for EVs, reducing CO2 emissions from road transport and reducing oil dependency as a transport fuel.

“This proposal provides the opportunity to meet targets for greenhouse gas reduction from road transport, improving air quality standards and increasing the use of alternative fuels by domestic drivers.

“It is hoped that with the provision of additional infrastructure on the highway network, the uptake of electric vehicles will continue to increase with the associated environmental benefits.”

The 10 EV bays will replace 19 spaces in the retail park’s car park – a loss of nine spaces.

But the application argues there are an ample number of other spaces available for drivers throughout the car park.

The application says a recent report has found that there are an increasing number of EV charging points being created across the UK.

But it adds: “Notably, these charge points are largely in the South and in urban areas and are not equally distributed throughout the UK.

“Whilst the number of charge points installed within one mile of the strategic road network has grown faster than DfT expected, there remains current stretches of major ‘A’ roads where there are currently not enough charge points.”

The Council’s Clean Air team has commented on the plans, saying the charging bays “will support the council’s wider carbon reduction programmes.”

A decision on the application is expected in May.

Work is currently underway on installing EV charging spaces at the Shell filling Station on Rooley Lane, near the M606.

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