Council to dispose of parking spot in Limerick to ESB

COUNCILLORS have agreed to sell a small portion of Limerick land to the ESB, to facilitate the installation of an electric vehicle charging point.

At the November meeting of the municipal district of Newcastle West, councillors agreed to a proposal to dispose of the land for a nominal fee of €1.

The 6m2 of land is located in a parking area at Market Place in Newcastle West.

Cllr Jerome Scanlan welcomed the plan to install further electric vehicle charging points in the town.

The Climate Action Plan 2021 sets target reductions for the transport sector, to be achieved by 2030.

The plan seeks a 42% - 50% reduction (relative to 2018 levels) in emissions across the sector by 2030 and net-zero emissions by 2050.

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In order to achieve these reductions, the Climate Action Plan 2021 identifies a series of targets for the transport sector which includes increasing the fleet of electric vehicles and low-emitting vehicles on the road to 945,000.

Increasing the number of electric vehicles is one of the Government’s key interventions in the move to reduce fossil fuel energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.

As such, the roll-out of charging infrastructure is critical in facilitating the increase in use of electric vehicles.

Councillor Liam Galvin welcomed the proposed installation of new charging points but called for public representatives to be informed of, and to have a say, on the plans for the installation of future electric vehicle charging points as they “take up parking spaces”.

He noted that some locations around the county are more suitable than others and should be looked at.

The proposed disposal of the land to ESB will be formally approved at the next meeting of the full council.