Residents are being reassured that progress is being made with the electric vehicle (EV) charging points in Wentworth car park in Hexham. 

Transport North East, which works on behalf of all councils in the North East, has been working behind the scenes to enable the power supply to get the chargers up and running. 
 
These charging points are in addition to the six, already connected, charging bays provided by Northumberland County Council in Wentworth Car Park. Another two charging bays have also been installed by the council in the new 250-space long-stay car park on Alemouth Road which is due to open in the summer. 

Permission has now been granted to Transport North East from Northern Powergrid, to allow the charging points to become fully operational for use by the public, particularly for residents in Hexham, who are unable to have private electric vehicle charging points installed on their properties. 
 
Councillor Glen Sanderson, council leader at Northumberland County Council said: “We are thrilled to see progress being made to get these charging points up and running. There has been much talk in the community about what is being done with these charging points and I want to reassure the public that everything is being done to connect them as quickly as possible so that people can very soon start to take advantage of their benefits.” 
 
Transport North East, together with the North East Combined Authority, has commissioned Leeds-based EV specialists, The Phoenix Works, to install the charging points on land which has been leased from Northumberland County Council.  

Cllr Sanderson said: “We understand that if we want to encourage the use of more electric vehicles to help cut carbon emissions, then the infrastructure needs to be in place in order to fully support this and I am glad to see progress being made on these charging points in Hexham. 
 
“The council is working hard to make Northumberland a carbon neutral county by 2030 and we would like to thank Transport North East for supporting us in our ambition.”