Tuesday March 31st 2026
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Paul Kelly
Time-lines are needed as to when Borders’ residents will gain access to better EV charging opportunities. The plea came at a recent meeting of Scottish Borders Council.
The Liberal Democrats Councillor Drummong Begg raised the case of one of his constituents in Tweeddale West who is a tenant of a social housing provider. They drive an electric vehicle but cannot get permission to install a home charging point because they don’t have a private driveway and have to plug in their car across a pavement. As a result they can only currently use public charging points – that cost five to seven times that of home charging.
Councillor Begg said that with a UK ban on vehicles with combustion engines looming in four years, residents needed better time-lines to enable them to make “informed decisions” over purchasing electric vehicles.
In response, Councillor Simon Mountford, SBC’s executive member for Economic Development, Planning and Community Assets, said:
“The complex nature of across pavement EV charging means that at the moment there are only a few local authorities in Scotland, that we are aware of, that are considering implementing this kind of infrastructure and even fewer who are at the stage of carrying out trials on site.
“Council officers have been in communication with neighbouring authorities to share best practice, look at suitable materials, installation methods and talk through various lessons learned from their various experiences of on-street charging and cross-pavement charging solutions.
“A recent site visit to a local authority which is carrying out trials gave our officers valuable insight into the kind of solutions and infrastructure that is being trialled and the practical challenges that may arise.
“The team has also been meeting with manufacturers to review the products currently on the market to help us inform our decision-making process.”
Councillor Begg responded, saying: “My key question was around time-lines because if you were thinking of purchasing an electric vehicle that’s the thing you want to be aware of.
“From 2030, to give a time-line that we do know of, new vehicles with internal combustion engines will be banned in the United Kingdom.
“So would the executive member agree with me that we need to move faster and be more innovative to provide EV charging opportunities for all Borders’ residents and time-lines to enable them to make informed decisions.”
Councillor Mountford, responded, saying:
“That’s a fair point Councillor Begg. A report will be brought to council in August which should answer all those points.”
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