Southwark Council to Spend up to £8 million on Fossil Fuel Cars as EV charging roll out stalls

Southwark Liberal Democrats have slammed Labour-run Southwark Council as a decision to procure up to £8 million worth of internal combustion engine (ICE) cars has come to light.

The report recommending the decision states that the council cannot move to an all-electric fleet due to wider charging infrastructure not being sufficient – despite the council previously pledging to ensure widespread accessibility of charging points and declaring a climate emergency in 2019.

The Liberal Democrats have slammed the council for failing to make progress on electric vehicle charging points and wider climate policy, and say they will attempt to use town hall tactics to force a rethink.

An FOI in December found that the number of Electric Vehicles currently in the council’s fleet had decreased from 18 to 14 out of 228 vehicles – the rest being petrol or diesel, along with a handful of hybrids.

The decision comes as the previous contract had expired, meaning that this would be a new opportunity to review the councils use of different types of vehicles in its service.

The contract to provide the cars from an automotive firm is said to last for 5 years – meaning that the council will likely still be using fossil fuel cars in its fleet as it reaches its 2030 net zero target year.

The Liberal Democrats have previously called the council out on its climate emergency record, with a recent audit confirming that the Labour authority is not on track to meet its net-zero goals on time.

Commenting, Southwark Liberal Democrat Deputy Leader Cllr Rachel Bentley said: 

“Labour talk the talk on climate, but they don’t walk the walk. At every opportunity and milestone they’ve let us down – they're failing residents, and they’re failing the planet.  

If the council can’t make the switch to electric vehicles because it’s failed to roll out charging points – how can it expect residents to?  

Southwark Labour simply are not treating the climate emergency with the urgency it needs. The clue is in the name!”