Crawley resident ‘gobsmacked’ by County Council’s decision to install EV chargers on road

Last week, the Tilgate resident claims to have woken up to find “workers digging the crosswalk in front of my house and five other houses. Upon asking the workers, I was informed that this was for electric car chargers.”

The post was seen on the Tilgate residents’ page on Facebook.

The Tilgate resident said: “I was gobsmacked hearing this as this was the first time I heard about it. There was a sign that was put up on the other side of the road a few days ago about some roadworks so we thought it was to repair the space next to the crosswalk on that side of the road as it looked in a bad state.

“Me and few of the neighbours I spoke to, never received any letters, leaflets or information regarding this. I am pretty sure that we should have been part of any proposals, consultations or such changes especially as we are directly impacted by it. Also, I don't see any electric cars in the nearby area, and it doesn't make sense to put up a charging point on a very residential road especially when the residents have not been consulted.

“I support electric charging points but where they are needed, not in residential areas that have no flats, or electric cars or need for these charging points.

“I was in the middle of applying for a drop kerb application, but now this changes everything.

A West Sussex County Council spokesperson said: “The works to install six chargepoints on Drake Road started on Tuesday (March 7). Residents received notification of these works commencing a week in advance from the contractors Options Ltd.

“All residents on Drake Road received an initial leaflet in August 2022 outlining the proposals and inviting any initial comments. Following this, the site then went through the TRO process which included consultation from November to December 2022. As part of this, residents whose properties face onto the proposed bays received a letter outlining the proposals and giving information on how they could submit a comment. Furthermore, TRO notices were displayed in the area during the TRO consultation period to inform those residents not directly adjacent to the sites of proposed bays.

“This site was selected for multiple reasons, including a resident of the road requesting a chargepoint for their electric vehicle. We are installing chargepoints across West Sussex to support local residents in charging their work or personal electric vehicles, and to allow more residents who do not have off-street parking to transition to an electric vehicle. We hope these chargepoints will benefit local residents, but are carefully considering residents’ concerns and looking at ways in which these might be addressed and will continue to monitor the usage of the chargepoints going forward.”

The Tilgate resident continues: “I have spoken to the West Sussex County Council and I am in the process of escalating the issue. Three of the houses have already raised a complaint. The person I spoke to said that they only received one rejection from a Drake Road resident (did not mention house number) but no other replies.

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“We already have parking issues on the road, this will impact all of us living on Drake Road by making the issue worse, specially us households that are impacted directly. The workers also told me that similar proposals were made for nearby roads but all residents rejected them as they were made aware in advance.”