ON-street electric vehicle charging points are to be installed in Wirral for the first time as part of a pilot project.

Wirral Council is about to start work on 40 new charging points in parts of Wallasey and Hoylake to make it easier for owners of electric or hybrid vehicles to stay charged up and encourage more people to consider moving away from petrol and diesel.

The £100,000 scheme is being funded by a grant from OZEV – the Office for Zero Emissions Vehicles, formerly known as OLEV - and Wirral Council.

The charging points will be installed by the autority's contractor, SSE Enterprise and residents will be able to use them once they are all installed and switched on from October.

The locations of the units have been chosen based on a survey carried out in 2019 that asked residents where they would most like to see electric vehicle charging points.

Cllr Liz Grey, chair of Wirral's environment, climate emergency and transport committee, said: "While electric vehicles are not the primary solution to climate emergency issues, it is important that we do what we can to encourage those who have to travel by car to do so without causing as much air pollution or GHG emissions - this pilot project will take us a step closer in that regard.

"A big part of our climate emergency action plan is to work towards a future with far more active travel and better public transport."

More information on how to use the charging points will be released ahead of the units being available for use.