Boris Johnson Cuts £13 Million From Car Charge Point Budget
'No Charge Mr Johnson?'
With the recent review of public sector funds and how it is distributed, it comes as no surprise that one of London’s biggest ECO projects has been put under the knife by Boris Johnson, cutting £13 million from the budget.
The scheme which is already up and running in the city has over 250 ‘Juice Points’ at strategic points for people who have electric cars to charge up whilst they are shopping or visiting the capital.
But, with the recent reviews over public sector spending, Mr Johnson has cut the already tight budget from £20 million down to £7 million – keeping everything crossed that he can raise the funds through 3rd party sponsorship of the scheme.
Earlier in the year, the announcement of 7,500 charge points (Juice Points) to be installed by 2013 was released by the London Mayor, spread across a multitude of places including: Supermarkets, Tube Stations, Work Places, Car Parks and also street parking getting around 500 – all because he said that anyone would never be no further than 1 mile from a Juice Point, no matter where they parked within the city.
Johnson, who wants to raise the limit of electric vehicles on the road in the city to 100,000 by 2020 – will obviously have a hard time trying to back pedal his way out of this Eco mess. And Kuldeer Ranger, who is the transport advisor to Mr Johnson said: “These are clearly difficult times for public sector funding but by working proactively with our private sector partners we are confident we can still fulfil our goals.”
Well, it certainly makes a change for London Transport not to be charging something for motorists in the city!
