Electric car charging points for Welwyn Garden City
TWO electric car charging points are being installed in a town centre, to the dismay of traders.
Businesses have blasted the move, which will see the plug-in points taking up two vital free car parking spaces – three while work takes place – on the corner of Howardsgate and Parkway in WGC.
The scheme is being run by Evalu8 – a company set up by the University of Hertfordshire.
Traders have not been formally told what is going on and have not been consulted about the impact on their businesses.
They are left asking why the points are being erected outside their stores? Why they couldn’t be put in a council-run car park? Will normal cars being able to occupy the spaces? And how long will electric cars be given to park and charge up?
You may also want to watch:
Belinda Walsingham, owner of The Pet & Garden Centre, said: “We’ve had no consultation at all, the first we knew was Friday when the workmen started putting out cones.
“It’s difficult to get people to walk up to us anyway, the last thing we need or want is less parking outside.
Most Read
- 1 May 17: Pub ready for reopening after £440k refurbishment
- 2 'We were only open 20 days before the first lockdown' - First time restaurant owner optimistic after difficult first year
- 3 Social club 'blown away' by community support while closed for extended period
- 4 Ocado opens new development centre, creating 100 new jobs
- 5 Search continues for missing Stevenage man
- 6 Top gear! Supercars drive into Knebworth for Petrolheadonism event
- 7 Students protest and parents call for change after 'lack of action' on racism
- 8 Proposal to turn B&Q into 151 flats
- 9 Weight lifted as Slimming World classes return as COVID-19 restrictions ease
- 10 May 17: What can open when COVID lockdown rules ease on Monday?
Pizza Hut manager Anna Genovese echoed her concerns. She added: “They’ve started digging already.
“It’s really going to affect my takeaway customers.
Diane Wilson, landlady at The Cork, is supporting fellow traders. She said: “We’re really short of parking, I’m sure it’ll impact businesses, mainly the shops more than us, but we’re all in this together.”
While Frank Monastero, of The Welwyn Barber, said: “We’re not London, this is Hertfordshire, I’ve never seen anyone in an electric car.”
And one WGC insurance broker told the WHT his firm had never insured an electric car in the area.
The Evalu8 scheme will see 600 points installed across the East of England, with 105 in Luton and Hertfordshire.
