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Camden News - by VIVIENNE RAPER
Published: 27 November 2008

Electric cars boost under fire

ELECTRIC car owners are to get new “charge up” points by the roadside in Camden – but green experts have warned that the money spent on the project should have gone elsewhere.
Five new posts, costing £40,000, will give users of electric cars, bike and scooters the chance to “power up” in Holborn and Bloomsbury.
The vehicles, which do not emit exhaust fumes, are seen as contributing towards cutting pollution levels in central areas of London.
But Green Party councillor Maya de Souza said: “In Bloomsbury and Holborn we would see walking, cycling and public transport as the most appropriate means of getting round. We don’t think electric cars should be encouraged there.
“It’s the more out-of-town parts of Camden where electric cars should be encouraged.”
Even the council’s own eco-champion has reservations.
Lib Dem councillor Alexis Rowell said: “I don’t think electric car charging points all over the place really stack up. We don’t have the on-street parking spaces for people who want electric cars.
“For 40 per cent of the time they need to be sitting on a charge point. I would like to see the money used for a trial of electric car clubs.”
Electric car owner Carolyn Sceales, from Dartmouth Park, doubts whether an extra five charging points will make much of a difference. “These cars are only for people with off-road parking spaces,” she said. “I would much prefer to see Camden waive pay-and-display tickets for people using electric vehicles.”
The £40,000 comes from cash allocated annually to Camden Council by Transport for London.
Alan Rusbridger, editor of the Guardian newspaper, who lives in Tufnell Park and drives an electric car, said: “It is great that Camden is doing this. Obviously, a small drop in the ocean but really good news.”
A Town Hall press official said cash was also being spent on cycling projects and improving “town centres” in Kentish Town and Chalk Farm.

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