That the Divisional Director for Planning, Housing and Climate Emergency, be given delegated authority to award the concession contract and associated land agreements, to be undertaken in accordance with advice and guidance provided by the Devon County Council procurement team and Torbay Council’s Commercial and Legal Services for delivery of the programme up to the value of the capital grant funding awarded.

To progress the spending and meet our obligations and conditions of the grant funding, it is necessary to delivery on the commitment to delivering Electric Vehicle Infrastructure to support the transition to electric vehicles.  To achieve the delivery of the Electric Vehicle Infrastructure there was a need to award concession contracts and in certain circumstances land agreements.

Not to approve delegated authority to award the contract, this option was discounted as it would slow down progress and result in a complicated governance process with separate contracts for each lot utilised and land agreements for sites as necessary.  Devon County Council would continue with their elements, though there would be some risk associated with that should Torbay Council at a later date, not award the contract.

Not to award the contract(s), the Council would likely be required to return the funding to the Office for Zero Emission Vehicles and some of the LEVI revenue funding awarded to support capacity alongside may also be clawed back.

The Council could choose to re-run a procurement process separate from Devon, but this would compromise the Devon led procurement to date and likely result in less positive value for money outcome.  Furthermore, this would slow the adoption of electric vehicles and not provide the support to the community to help in the transition, providing choice about travel and making it harder to meet national and local climate commitments.

This decision will come into force and may be implemented on 31 March 2025 unless the call-in procedure is triggered (as set out in the Standing Orders in relation to Overview and Scrutiny).

The Local Transport Plan Action Plan 2021-2026, set out a commitment to delivering Electric Vehicle Infrastructure to support the transition to electric vehicles.  Whilst the Council are delivering a programme of rapid chargepoints within car parks against an existing concession contract and land agreements, electric vehicle infrastructure delivery was not keeping pace with the changing vehicle markets and those without home charging capacity were at risk of being disadvantaged.

Torbay Council had been awarded £958,000 of Capital Government funding to support accelerated delivery of Electric Charging Infrastructure, delivering against the evidence base strategy which shows a need for around 650-1000 publicly available chargers within the next 5-10 years across Torbay.  This funding was through the Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (LEVI) Fund.

There were four contracts available providing a range of chargepoints and each would be accompanied by a concession contract and those that require it would also include a lease agreement.

At the meeting, Councillor Billings proposed and Councillor Jackie Thomas seconded a motion, which was agreed unanimously by the Cabinet, as set out above.

None.