DENBIGHSHIRE is getting into gear on the road towards a fully-electric fleet – but the general public and rural motorists will have to wait.

Ahead of the arrival of its first two electric vehicle, Denbighshire County Council (DCC) will lay the groundworks with the installation of two charging stations apiece for the County Hall and Highway Depot Lon Parcwr in Ruthin, and Caledfryn in Denbigh.

In total, 14 7kW charging points will be installed across the county – including sites in Rhyl and Bodelwyddan – for use by the council’s new fleet.

Cllr Julian Thompson-Hill, lead member for finance, performance and strategic assets, said: “This investment is being made to facilitate the electrification of the Council’s fleet vehicles and two electric vehicles are on order which will be able to utilise the charging points.

“This work is part of our commitment to reduce carbon emissions from Council assets by at least 15 percent by 2022 to help protect the environment.”

While the news has been welcomed by councillors, DCC is being urged to speed up plans to roll out the scheme to rural communities and to the general public.

Currently the only points available to green drivers in the county are Ecotricity in Bodelwyddan and a Pod Point station at the Rhug Estate.

Cllr Mabon ap Gwynfor, of the Llandrillo ward, said: “This is a good step in the right direction, but we need to see more charging points open to the public. Wales has a tiny amount of public charging points compared to either Scotland or England.

"The government in Cardiff should be doing much more to assist in developing more public charging points.

“Climate change is the biggest issue facing us all at the moment, yet far too often it’s ignored. Having more electric vehicles also has significant health benefits as it takes dirty particles out of the air that we breathe."

However Denbighshire's inroads for its own fleet are part of a larger movement towards a wider green infrastructure in the county.

Cllr Brian Jones, lead member for highways, planning and sustainable travel said: "Quiet rightly, I'm sure people want to see this scheme opened up outside the council.

“Obviously we have to consider that a proportion of the county is rural and we need to offer access to this technology to everyone in time.

"But, it won't happen overnight - ultimately the general public will have to make the change to electrics cars.

"This scheme is also meant to work in tandem with another strategic approach that will encompass the whole of North Wales, that we are now very much at the forefront of."

Cllr Jones is also Denbighshire's lead member in the North Wales Transport cabinet Advisory Forum, which is comprised of members from Flintshire, Wrexham, Conwy, Gwynedd and Anglesey county councils as well as the Welsh government and Transport for Wales.

Cllr Jones added: "We're at the table and we're liasing with a mix of members who still have a rock solid grasp of how important this is. That we're working together like this, and that we have a definite directive from the Government to encourage electric cars show that widespread availability for the general public isn't miles down the line."