Question reference: S6W-00429
- Asked by: Sue Webber, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
- Date lodged: 3 June 2021
-
Current status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 17 June 2021
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what the £2.2 million of funding from Transport Scotland to The City of Edinburgh Council to install electric vehicle infrastructure has been spent on, in light of Edinburgh reportedly having the second worst ratio of electric vehicle charging devices per 100,000 people in Scotland.
Answer
City of Edinburgh Council (CEC) is benefitting from over £2.39 million of funding for its “Edinburgh EV Infrastructure Network Project” through Transport Scotland’s Switched on Towns and Cities challenge fund. Due to the scale of Switched on Towns and Cities projects the programme is delivered as a multi-annual funding stream, with work on-going across all 5 successful projects. City of Edinburgh Council is due to deliver 66 charge points of varying types (equating to 132 parking bays) at various locations across the city for use by residents, the public and also taxis. The project is due to complete later in 2021.
Whilst we work towards our net-zero transport targets, the Scottish Government will continue to align support with the vision and priorities set out in the National Transport Strategy 2 and Sustainable Transport Hierarchy. This represents a strong presumption towards enabling and promoting the use of active, sustainable and public transport modes over the use of private cars, regardless of their fuel type. Reflecting on the varied transport challenges and opportunities across Scotland’s urban and rural communities, this means we would expect to see car use in our largest cities reduce.