NEW charging points for electric vehicles in a Worcester car park go live for the first time next month.

Worcester City Council earmarked £400,000 to invest in EV charging in the St Martin’s Gate car park having originally bid for £1million of government funding.

That figure includes other improvements including new employment space and facilities to deliver skills training in parts of the city.

When active, the site will now contain 10 electric car charging points, making it the next milestone on the council’s plans to update Worcester.

Funding for the project, which includes six new rapid 50kW charge points and four 22kW points, came from the Accelerated Towns Investment Fund, and we reported on the plans when they were first published in 2020.

Green councillor Louis Stephen welcomed the news of the charging points, saying it is a step forward in making the city cleaner.

He said: “It is certainly a big boost to the city and our plans to become more green.

“One thing worth mentioning is that we have solar panels on the roof of St Martin’s Gate, so the power going into people’s cars is coming from there.

“It is a great link to have the energy we produce as a council being used directly for charging electric cars.

“The other good thing is that a lot of people cannot charge their cars at home, so having a council-owned car park where they can do that will really help.

“It is absolutely essential we provide charging so people can move to electric cars.

“Lots of people like the idea of having an electric car, but often do not have the space at home and cannot park on the road to do it.”