IT WILL soon become that little bit easier to travel through Somerset with an electric vehicle.

Highways England is working with local authorities up and down the country to install electric vehicle charging points at key areas on the major road network.

The agency, which is responsible for England’s motorways and A-roads, aims to ensure that motorists will be no more than 20 miles from a charging point on 95 per cent of the strategic road network.

South Somerset District Council has now confirmed that three new points will be installed on the stretch of the A303 which runs through its district.

The council confirmed details of the charging points as part of its environmental strategy, which came before its scrutiny committee in Yeovil on Tuesday morning (October 1).

The report stated: “We are currently accessing Highways England funding to install three rapid electric car chargers at strategic points which are easily accessible from the A303 in South Somerset.

“These will be at Wincanton, Ilchester and Ilminster.”

The precise location of the charging points within these settlements has not been confirmed.

Councillor Rob Stickland welcomed the news, but asked whether further points would be rolled out elsewhere in the district.

He said: “On electric charging points, I am frequently asked when we are going to get them district-wide. I want us to push forward on that.”

Jan Garmon, the council’s lead specialist in strategic planning, said the charging network across the county would be reviewed in due course.

The UK currently has 17,000 publicly available charging points, of which ten per cent provide rapid charging.

Thousands more will be installed through the government’s £400M charging infrastructure investment fund, with grants also being made available to fund charging points in homes, workplaces and on residential streets.

Baroness Vere of Norbiton, parliamentary under-secretary for transport, stated in May that the new charging points would be installed by the spring of 2020.

Speaking in the House of Lords on May 9, she said: “Highways England has so far given grants to five local authorities (Mid Suffolk, Ryedale, South Somerset, Worthing and Shropshire) to deliver 19 charge points.

“It is working with BP Chargemaster and Swarco to deliver a further 59, which will all be installed by spring 2020.”