Agenda item

RESOLVED:

1.    Agree that SCC undertake a procurement exercise with the aim of appointing a supplier(s) to work in partnership with the Council and its Key Delivery Partners to deliver public EV chargepoints at a large scale across Surrey.

2.    Agree to the establishment of a reference group through the CEH Select Committee which will be engaged to provide scrutiny support to the procurement exercise, including in helping to define the outcomes to be specified in the procurement and the network plan.

3.    Agree to delegate authority to the Executive Director for Environment Transport and Infrastructure in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Transport and Infrastructure following further engagement to determine the procurement model of a single supplier or suppliers.

4.    Agree to receive a further report to Cabinet (in Q3 of 2022) to ask for a decision to proceed once the outcome of the procurement exercise is known.

Reasons for Decisions:

The recommendations will enable the development and delivery of the vital EV public charging infrastructure necessary to support the transition away from petrol and diesel cars to electric for those without access to other means of charging.  The long-term sole supplier proposal will enable the Council to work in partnership with District and Boroughs and the opportunities to offer access to other public sector and community partners including the NHS.  This would offer increasingly consistent and interoperable chargepoints for EV users in Surrey.  This arrangement would target on-street locations and off-street car park locations.  The contract would be fully funded in most locations by the supplier in return for the supplier retaining the majority of the revenue.  In some cases more profitable sites would cross-subsidise less commercial locations.  Additionally, some sites may be supported by government and where justified SCC funding to achieve a geographically and socially equitable chargepoint network.

(The decisions on this item can be called-in by the Communities, Environment and Highways Select Committee)

The Cabinet Member for Transport and Infrastructure introduced the report which outlined the strategic options assessment undertaken by the Council and noted that as the transition to electric vehicles (EV) continued to grow, the demand for on-street and off-street publicly accessible charging points would increase; particularly in light of the 2030 Government ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel only vehicles. The Council as the local highway authority was overseeing the installation of public EV chargepoints, and the Council was looking at a more ambitious timetable to deliver more EV chargepoints. That transport contributed 41% of Surrey’s carbon emissions and the Council had a net zero target for carbon emissions by 2050 for the county. There was a forecasted demand for up to 10,000 public EV charging points in Surrey by 2030. The Council had identified a number of business models for the delivery of the EV chargepoints working in partnership with the private and public sectors. One pilot included the installation of 80 EV chargepoints by the end of quarter one with a further 100 EV chargepoints to follow in 2022.

Following the consideration by the Communities, Environment and Highways (CEH) Select Committee he proposed the following revised recommendations (with additional words in bold/underlined and deletions crossed through):

1.      Agree that SCC undertake a procurement exercise with the aim of appointing a single supplier(s) to work in partnership with the Council and its Key Delivery Partners to deliver public EV chargepoints at a large scale across Surrey.

2.      Agree to the establishment of a reference group through the CEH Select Committee which will be engaged to provide scrutiny support to the procurement exercise, including in helping to define the outcomes to be specified in the procurement and the network plan.

3.      Agree to delegate authority to the Executive Director for Environment Transport and Infrastructure in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Transport and Infrastructure following further engagement to determine the procurement model of a single supplier or suppliers.

4.      Agree to receive a further report to Cabinet (in Q3 of 2022) to ask for a decision to proceed once the outcome of the procurement exercise is known.

The Chairman of the CEH Select Committee provided the following comments under item 5. He noted that theCEH Select Committee supported the revised recommendations following discussions with the Cabinet Member for Transport and Infrastructure, and the Executive Director for Environment, Transport and Infrastructure. The establishment of a reference group was a constructive way to obtain a united approach for EV chargepoint procurement.

The Leader explained that the revised wording of the recommendations reflected the important role of the CEH Select Committee in the procurement of the EV chargepoints through providing strategic oversight as opposed to overseeing the operational delivery. The Leader welcomed the support of CEH Select Committee over those revised recommendations; which the Cabinet agreed.

RESOLVED:

1.    Agree that SCC undertake a procurement exercise with the aim of appointing a supplier(s) to work in partnership with the Council and its Key Delivery Partners to deliver public EV chargepoints at a large scale across Surrey.

2.    Agree to the establishment of a reference group through the CEH Select Committee which will be engaged to provide scrutiny support to the procurement exercise, including in helping to define the outcomes to be specified in the procurement and the network plan.

3.    Agree to delegate authority to the Executive Director for Environment Transport and Infrastructure in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Transport and Infrastructure following further engagement to determine the procurement model of a single supplier or suppliers.

4.    Agree to receive a further report to Cabinet (in Q3 of 2022) to ask for a decision to proceed once the outcome of the procurement exercise is known.

Reasons for Decisions:

The recommendations will enable the development and delivery of the vital EV public charging infrastructure necessary to support the transition away from petrol and diesel cars to electric for those without access to other means of charging.  The long-term sole supplier proposal will enable the Council to work in partnership with District and Boroughs and the opportunities to offer access to other public sector and community partners including the NHS.  This would offer increasingly consistent and interoperable chargepoints for EV users in Surrey.  This arrangement would target on-street locations and off-street car park locations.  The contract would be fully funded in most locations by the supplier in return for the supplier retaining the majority of the revenue.  In some cases more profitable sites would cross-subsidise less commercial locations.  Additionally, some sites may be supported by government and where justified SCC funding to achieve a geographically and socially equitable chargepoint network.

(The decisions on this item can be called-in by the Communities, Environment and Highways Select Committee)