Electric car charging points to be installed

The Roads Service plans to install six charging bays in the town over the next two years, with two bays to be located at Agnew Street car park, another two at Riverdale car park and a final pair at Circular Road car park.

The proposal is part of the ecar project, a pilot initiative being run by the Office of Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV) in London. The scheme provides funding for electric vehicle charging infrastructure to be installed throughout the UK, with Northern Ireland being awarded up to £850,000.

A total of six towns and cities in the Province have been selected as locations for the initial batch of charging points, including Larne, Belfast, Londonderry, Newry, Armagh and Enniskillen. These were chosen because they are all major gateways into Northern Ireland.

The location of the charging bays in each area was based on a number of factors, such as their suitability in terms of parking availability and priority access to amenities.

ecar is a consortium of public and private sector partners led jointly by the Department for Regional Development and the Department of Environment. It is hoped that electric vehicles will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the Province and help the NI Executive to reach its target of 25 per cent less emissions by 2025.