I predict that in the coming years petrol stations will provide electric charging points, in addition to petrol. That is not to say that local authorities
should not have a duty to consider installing charging points. Local authorities may lead; the private sector might jump ahead of them. That confirms the view that local authorities should not have to provide electric charging points when the private sector has provided them already in petrol stations. Indeed, one frequently finds petrol stations co-located with local authority car parks, for example, so why should the local authority be under an obligation to provide charging points when the private sector is providing them anyway? In my view, the market should take over.
9.30 pm
In some car parks across London it would be wholly inappropriate to have charging points, but amendment 22 would require local authorities to provide them, even if they were never used and never appropriate. I cannot describe every single car park in London—however tempting that may be—but that would be the position.
Amendment 23 is another one that is a bit bizarre. It would downgrade the responsibility of local authorities to provide electric charging points on the public highway. The local authority would have a duty to provide electric charging points, but only “on a discretionary basis”. The amendment is badly drafted, and I urge my hon. Friend the Member for Christchurch not to press it to a vote for that reason alone.