Wyre Forest District Council has reiterated its commitment to installing electric vehicle (EV) chargers in council car parks in the district. It comes following news that the authority’s contractor has withdrawn from the project.
Wyre Forest District Council announced in March 2024 that it had awarded a contract to Flowbird Smart City and Opcharge UK to install devices in many of its car parks. Work had been due to start in July 2024 but the company delayed this due to changes in its funding partner. The work had been rescheduled to start this month, but the Council has now received notification that Flowbird has been aquired by another business and as part of the new business model it will ‘no longer act as an operator or owner of EV charging infrastructure.’
As the Cabinet Member for Economic Regeneration, Planning and the Green Agenda at Wyre Forest District Council, Dan said:
Installing charging points in car parks in all three towns is one of our priorities in our corporate plan and we are committed to this. After a number of previous delays on the providers side, which were supported by WFDC, it is very frustrating that Flowbird cannot now fulfil the contract. Although this is very disappointing news, we do respect that this has been caused by the acquisition of one business by another and the change in the new merged company’s business model. I can assure residents that we are committed to seeing EV charging points in our car parks, as set out in our corporate plan for 2023-2027. I will be now be working with officers to start a new procurement process. This will of course include a fresh view of the EV demand. We will also be considering the County Council’s plans within their Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure funding approach to EV provision across the County.
