Midlothian homeowner wins battle over EV charger after Scottish ministers step in

A Midlothian homeowner is celebrating victory after Scottish Ministers said they would not intervene in a decision to allow him to charge his electric car on land in front of his house.

Transport Scotland objected to the householder using the tarmac in front of his home in Pathhead, saying that, despite it being owned by him, it was part of the public footpath.

They raised concerns that allowing the charger could lead to cars parked on the road being connected to it and cables crossing the pavement.

Despite their concerns, Midlothian councillors approved the EV charger at an appeal hearing earlier this month after they were told the tarmac areas had once been the front gardens of the houses in the village, Main Street, but were adopted as part of the public highway.

Now Transport Scotland has revised its concerns after councillors included a condition in their approval, which said it could only be used for vehicles parked on the land directly in front of the house, in the village’s Main Street.

A report issued by Scottish Ministers who were considering calling in the planning application to determine, said Transport Scotland has acknowledged that “in this instance there is a clear distinction between the designated foot way (block paving area) and the area of hard-standing within the applicant’s ownership”.

It said: “They are satisfied the proposed Local Review Body condition would make it clear that EV charging should only take place within the land under the applicant’s ownership and would remove any trip hazard for pedestrians using the trunk road footway.”

It brings an end to the fight for the homeowner who is now able to install the charger.

Earlier this month, councillors overturned a decision by their planning officers to refuse permission for the charger as making ‘no sense’.

During a meeting of the council’s Local Review Body, councillor Willie McEwan said he had never come across a situation where the owner of a house, who was trying to meet government standards with an electric car, was being blocked by Transport Scotland.

He said: “We can quite clearly see there is no way this owner is encroaching on the footpath. It doesn’t make sense to me that we are here contemplating perhaps a refusal of planning.

“He is doing his best to conform to our policy, government and national policy yet we are minded to question his integrity and what he is doing on his own land.”

Planners had warned councillors that approving the proposal would mean they had to notify Scottish Ministers because of the objection from their statutory body.