South Norfolk Council has refused planning permission for an EV charging hub at Diss.
The application was submitted by For-t LLP (trading as The Charge), for an EV charging centre comprising 20 Osprey bays (12 with full charging facilities and eight with infrastructure), two buildings (Costa Coffee and Burger King) with drive-thru facilities, 36 car parking spaces, an electricity substation and an on-site Waveney Foodbank collection space. This was all to be built on land at the junction of Frenze Brook and the River Waveney on Victoria Road in Diss.
There were several reasons for the refusal including the fact that the site is mostly located outside the defined development boundary for Diss and is therefore in the ‘countryside’.
The council also said the application included ‘main town centre’ uses, which were ancillary to the EV charging stations. There were also concerns about flood risk and the development having a detrimental impact on the ecology and biodiversity of the site.
The refusal came as Norfolk City councillor Rob Colwell told the BBC that he was worried that a lack of EV chargepoints might put people off from travelling to the county.
