Electric vehicle charging points in Ellon are still not operational – seven months after they were installed.
Councillor Gillian Owen has labelled the delay in connecting them a “disgrace”.
The charging points were installed in the Ellon Library Car Park back in March but no date has been given on when they will be operational.
Mrs Owen said despite contacting Aberdeenshire Council regularly, she has still not received any assurances of a commissioning date.
The Scottish Government previously said it aims to phase out the need for new petrol and diesel cars by 2030 to meet climate change targets.
However, concerns have now been raised that people from rural areas are being discouraged from using electric vehicles due to a lack of charging points.
Mrs Owen said: “We are still ridiculously short of electric chargers in Aberdeenshire, and I will keep pressing the council to install more particularly in villages in my Ellon and District Ward.
“If the Scottish Government is serious about everyone changing to electric cars the infrastructure locally must be in place to support that and now its significantly lacking.”
She has also requested the bays be painted and signed so they are not blocked by people parking once they are eventually commissioned.
How has the north-east rollout been going?
Last year, only 28 charging points were installed across the north-east.
In the past three years, £30 million has been handed out to local authorities by the Scottish Government for installing EV charging points.
But less than £1.4m of it has been given to Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire and Moray.
Liam Kerr, Conservative MSP for the North East, now says the region is being “left behind” by this “woeful under delivery”.
“People in remote and rural areas should not be penalised for where they live but it’s clear these funding levels favour the Central Belt.”
He added that the SNP and the Greens are not “practicing what they preach” by encouraging people to make the switch to electric vehicles.
What does the Scottish Government say?
A Transport Scotland spokesman said: “We have invested £3 million since 2019/20 to support charging infrastructure across the North East of Scotland.
“Previous funding approaches consisted of a mixture of centrally allocated funds provided to all local authorities and programmes which required local authorities to submit applications.
“Not all local authorities applied to the latter. Differences in historic funding reflect the various approaches taken by local authorities.
“Our new funding model, launched in January, is clear on the need for a just transition, where accessibility, availability and reliability is key and where no one is left behind from the positive shift to zero emission transport system – including rural communities.
“The new Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Fund is designed to attract in £30m in private sector investment and in a way which benefits all of Scotland.”
A spokeswoman for Aberdeenshire Council said: “We await ChargePlace Scotland to complete the commissioning process.”
Conversation