Swindon Borough Council is to debate a motion aimed at stopping electric vehicle charging cables from being trailed across pavements, where they have been quietly tripping up residents who lack the reflexes, or indeed the warning, to step over them.
The motion, titled Electric Vehicle Charging, was put forward by Councillor Daniel Adams and seconded by Councillor Marco Di Pinto, and is due to be discussed at Full Council on Thursday, 22 October at 7pm. It notes that many Swindon households have no off street parking, meaning drivers often run a cable from the house to the car across the pavement, creating a trip hazard and, the motion warns, potential liability issues for whoever put it there. The proposed fix is a policy for what is officially called a regulated cross pavement EV charging conduit, essentially a small channel set into the footway so the cable can run flush with the ground rather than lying in wait like a garrotte for passing pensioners.
The councillors point to Oxfordshire, Nottinghamshire and Durham, where similar schemes already exist, and suggest Swindon residents could apply through a process modelled on the existing one for dropped kerbs, with safety, drainage and utility checks built in. The scheme is intended to be cost neutral or better for the council, funded through licensing and inspection fees rather than general taxation, which is council speak for someone, somewhere, will still be paying for this.
Until now, the pavement cable has operated as a sort of unofficial neighbourhood watch, catching out postmen, prams and the occasional jogger who insists on running at dusk in dark clothing. Residents without driveways have effectively been running an extension lead gauntlet every evening just to charge the car, a situation council officers are understood to regard as suboptimal.
Brenda Pask, 72, of Old Town, who has lived there since before it was old, said she had encountered one of these cables outside a house on her street and had words with it. 'I'm not one to gossip,' she said, 'but I hear number fourteen has been running his lead across the path every night since March, and I've told him straight, Ron would have had that up on a reel by now, properly, with a label on it saying Ron's lead, do not touch.'
Gary Tench, Area Manager at Tench Paper Solutions in Westlea, said the proposed licensing process had given him a new way of describing his own cabling arrangement for his band's amplifier at rehearsals. 'Subject to appropriate safety and reinstatement checks, that's basically how Julie describes letting me plug The Lanyards in near the fire exit,' he said. 'We've had one trip hazard incident and a strongly worded email, but artistically it was our best gig.'
Should the motion pass, the cabinet member for highways and transport will be asked to develop the full policy for consideration by Cabinet, with a licensing fee structure designed to recover the council's costs, assuming anyone can agree on where the groove should actually go.
Number fourteen's extension lead was unavailable for comment, having been quietly reeled in the moment Brenda knocked.