Blow for EV drivers in conservation areas who need pavement cables

Puzzles Challenge yourself with today's puzzles. Electric car owners living in England’s conservation areas are to be stopped from automatically running home-charging cables across pavements — potentially doubling the cost of charging vehicles — after the government introduced last-minute changes to new laws. The rules, which come into force on October 21, were meant to allow all residents without driveways across England to run cables across pavements without needing planning permission so they can charge electric vehicles from their homes. Most commented 1 Niqabs and burqas harm society, says Tory shadow minister Politics 662 comments The permitted development rule for the cables, which must be concealed inside special pavement gullies, was touted by the government as a major incentive for the country’s households who do not have driveways and who were therefore disincentivised from buying electric cars because they would have to rely on expensive public chargers. Charging a car at home typically costs 7p a mile compared with about 15p when using a public charger. Daily Briefing newsletter Get our top stories and exclusive analysis sent straight to your inbox every morning. Sign up with one click You’ve successfully signed up to the Daily Briefing newsletter Explore our newsletters An error occurred. Please use the link below. Daily Briefing newsletter Explore our newsletters However, on September 25, less than a month before the rules came into place, the government added an amendment that excluded England’s 10,000 conservation areas, which are home to about 6.8 million people, about 3.4 million of whom do not have driveways. If about 6.2 per cent of all cars in these areas are electric — the same as the national number — the decision would stop about 100,000 electric car owners from the possibility of charging at home without getting planning permission. Top stories 1 George Clooney, newly French, plans Italian restaurant in Provence Europe 2 How American billionaires are shaping the future of warfare Technology 3 New The key takeaways from Kemi Badenoch’s conference speech Politics 4 Reform UK clears its own advisers over Channel 4 donations sting Politics 5 Norwegian princess and shaman husband sue inner circle for m Europe One senior landowner, which operates in a conservation area but declined to be identified, said the move to exempt these areas had come as a complete surprise. “The final legislation excludes conservation areas, despite this not being previously flagged in consultation,” the landowner said. “That’s 10 per cent of all properties in the country, given we have 10,000 conservation areas.” Advertisement Conservation areas are defined by Historic England as zones of “special architectural or historic interest”, the character or appearance of which it is desirable to preserve or enhance. First introduced under the Civic Amenities Act 1967, they are designated by local planning authorities to protect the overall character of a neighbourhood or streetscape. Top stories 1 New The key takeaways from Kemi Badenoch’s conference speech Politics 2 New Southampton’s Tonda Eckert escapes ban for ‘Spygate’ scandal Football 3 Cristiano Ronaldo reaches new level of delusion with self-parody masterpiece Football 4 New Barclays traders’ convictions quashed after Supreme Court ruling Companies & Markets 5 Give every child a stake in Britain’s future Economics As well as making it easier to use cross-pavement cables, the rules also grant permitted development rights allowing for the installation of wall-mounted chargers on the front gardens or exterior walls of blocks of flats — but these will also not apply to England’s 350,000 listed buildings or properties in conservation areas. Parts of the Duke of Westminster’s Eaton estate and surrounding villages in Cheshire West & Chester are designated as conservation areas Alamy Dr Jonathan Duck, a planning and conservation adviser at the Listed Property Owners Club, which represents listed building owners, says he is not surprised by the ruling. “In my experience in 90 per cent of cases, you can install an EV charger without any problem at all. But those occasional ones will be the fly in the ointment and could result in damage to historic fabric. I can also see how this is annoying as a listed homeowner to jump through hoops, but it’s a necessary evil to uphold overall protection of historic buildings. It’s always the minority that ruins it for the majority.” Claire Gayle, heritage director at Pegasus Group, an architecture and engineering company, says anyone applying for planning permission to run a cable charger in a conservation area would need to demonstrate consideration for the area’s historic value. Advertisement “They need to be bespoke and demonstrate an understanding of the building or area’s heritage significance in order to minimise negative effects,” she said. The decision comes weeks after the owners of listed properties who wanted to retrofit their properties received a boost when the National Planning Policy Framework, the government document that guides council decision-makers, was changed to describe energy-efficiency or low-carbon improvements as “important public benefits”. Charging firms will pull plug on UK if net zero car targets are cut This, experts say, should boost applications to install assets like heat pumps, solar panels and extra glazing when council planners weigh up their benefits against the “harm” they might cause to a listed building’s original character — a metric that has frequently scuppered homeowners’ attempts to change their buildings and stop them crumbling. Energy-efficiency measures have been described as “important public benefits” Getty images The move was a victory for the Duke of Westminster, Britain’s 14th richest man , who owns 1,750 listed buildings across London and in three rural estates through his Grosvenor property company, and who warned earlier this year that listed buildings risk becoming “uninhabitable, unaffordable and ultimately redundant” unless their modernisation is permitted. Advertisement A government spokesman said: “We want to support households without off-street parking to access domestic electric vehicle charging, but it’s vital that we continue to protect the special character of our conservation areas. “People in conservation areas without off-street parking can still apply for planning permission to install a cross-pavement solution. Local authorities also have powers to grant blanket permission for these installations in an entire area if they choose to.”