Councils spending most on EV investment revealed

A new report by Halfords reveals which councils have been investing into a greener transport system over the past 10 years.  

The Council road maintenance spending report involved Halfords submitting freedom of information requests for 36 metropolitan and London borough councils to reveal council spending figures on general road maintenance investment, as well as EV (electric vehicle) investment and cycle lane and green recovery investment.  

The top 10 councils spending on EV investment since 2016:
 
Leeds City Council - £8,400,000
Coventry City Council - £3,532,432
Westminster Council - £2,303,894.38
Brent Council - £1,200,000
Hackney Council - £1,070,197
Lambeth Council - £938,971
Bradford City Council - £839,122.58
Rotherham Borough Council - £639,169.93
Islington Council - £510,877.58
Ealing Council - £380,000

The report reveals Leeds City Council are one step ahead of the other councils as they have already invested an impressive £8.4 million into the cities EV infrastructure since 2016.  

Leeds City Council have spent around £8.4 million since 2016, of which £2.9 million came from the government. The money has supported LCC fleets (£5,319,000), public charging ports (£1,076,500), and other EV related projects (£2 million).

The top 10 councils spending on green recovery and cycle lane investments since 2011
 
Enfield Council - £73,191,197.44
Stockport Borough Council - £73,022,005  
Waltham Forest - £44,082,873
Tameside Borough Council - £18,990,000
Westminster Council - £14,524,704.23
Sheffield City Council - £13,978,000
Bradford City Council - £9,718,346
Trafford Borough Council - £9,289,000
Dudley Borough Council - £7,567,000
Lambeth Council - £7,066,871  

When it comes to the councils investing in greener roads, including cycle lane investments, Enfield council came up top spending over £73million over the past decade.  

A majority of this spend went into the Cycle Enfield project which is a huge initiative set on transforming the borough’s high streets by promoting more active forms of travel to improve health and reduce pollution.

A spokesperson at Halfords said: "It’s no secret that the UK’s road infrastructure still has a long way to go in terms of making our roads greener.  

However, it’s great to see from our research that a good amount of councils are already investing in a greener future for their area, whether It be more cycle lanes or the installation of more electric vehicle charging points."

The full findings of the Council road maintenance spending report are available to view here.