A series of additional electric vehicles charging points are set to be installed in Burnley borough. Burnley Council and five other local authorities across Lancashire submitted a successful bid for Government funding that could see four rapid charging points installed in each area.

Potential sites on council-owned car parks have been identified and are currently being evaluated by Electricity North West. The funding bid was intended to promote the uptake of electric taxis. However, until such time as taxi demand for the chargers is high enough, the aim is to initially make the charging points available for wider public use.

Councillor Cosima Towneley, the council’s executive member for community and environmental services, said: “This is part of wider work by the council to make our borough cleaner and greener. It will help address climate change, protect the environment and improve air quality for our residents.

“One of the limiting factors in rolling out electric vehicles is the availability of charging points. We are delighted to put Burnley ahead of the game by pre-empting demand for charge points in our borough and we will continue to work with the local taxi trade to encourage operators to switch to electric vehicles.

“This project has shown the power of working with partners to access external funding which will cover the cost of the scheme and we look forward to further joint working in the future for the benefit of local people and the local environment.”

The executive has given the go ahead for officers to take part in a joint procurement exercise with the other Lancashire councils to enable the scheme to go ahead.

It’s proposed that the charging points will be installed next year. For those who have already made the change to electric or hybrid vehicles charging points are already installed in Kingsway on the edge of Burnley town centre.