The Scottish Government is under fire for “short-changing” the north-east after pumping millions of pounds into the central belt to fund new electric car charging points.
In the past three years, £30 million has been handed out to local authorities by the Scottish Government for installing EV charging points.
However 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”.
Millions given to the central belt
Since 2019/20 the Scottish Government has given £527,000 each to Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire councils for them to spend on installing EV charging points.
It also gave £339,000 to Moray Council.
However more money was given to all of the neighbouring local authorities, including £1.3m to Highland Council.
And millions more were given to local authorities in the central belt.
It includes £3.3m for South Lanarkshire, £3.1m to Glasgow City, £3m in North Lanarkshire, £2.7m in Edinburgh, £1.9m to Falkirk and £1.8m for North Ayrshire.
The figures have emerged after it was revealed only 28 EV charging points were installed by the Scottish Government across an area stretching from Fraserburgh to Dundee in the past year.
Rural areas being ‘penalised’
Mr Kerr now says the Scottish Government is “penalising” those living in remote and rural areas in favour of those living in the central belt.
He said: “These figures show our region is being left behind while areas such as Lanarkshire, Falkirk and Stirling have thousands more pumped into their infrastructure.
“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.
“If the Scottish Government is serious about getting people to make the switch then they need to give the north-east its fair share of funding otherwise another climate change target will be missed.”
He added the SNP and the Greens are not “practicing what they preach” by encouraging people to make the switch to electric vehicles.
Government defends EV spending
Transport Minister Jenny Gilruth defended the Scottish Government’s investment in EV car charging point, saying the publicly available network now stands at over 2,300 points nationwide.
She added: “Scotland benefits from the most public charging points outside of London, and the most rapid charge points anywhere in the UK.
“We now want to see greater private sector investment and involvement in line with our vision for Scotland’s public EV charging network – delivering more infrastructure faster and in a way that is more accessible than ever before.”
Anger at slow roll-out of electric vehicle charge points across north-east
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