PLANS to bring more electric vehicle charging points to Barrow have been welcomed.

Some 18 ‘fast’ charging points are in due to be installed after Barrow Council received funding for low carbon projects.

Money is being provided by the Cumbria Local Enterprise Partnership and the European Regional Development Fund.

A contract has been released, with firms invited to put forward a bid to carry out the works.

No further details about the project have been released so far.

Barrow MP Simon Fell welcomed the plan but said it was important other areas of the borough were not left out.

He said: “This is a fantastic first step, but we really need to go further and much faster.

“I’ve had residents in Dalton speak to me about the fact that there are no public charging points there, and again in Broughton, explaining just how limiting it is for those who have already made the switch to electric.

“If we really want and expect people to shift to electric vehicles then getting the infrastructure in is essential.”

According to the council Low Carbon Barrow is a £2m programme of investment in a range of low carbon projects across Barrow funded by the UK European Structural and Investment Fund and the Cumbria LEP.

The project is a partnership between Barrow Borough Council and Art Gene, with Barrow Borough Council.

The council unveiled its ambition for the borough to become carbon neutral by 2037 in its Low Carbon Barrow Action Plan, published in 2019.

It was announced last week that action on climate change across Barrow is to be shaped by a citizens’ jury made up of local residents and overseen by a panel of people from a diverse range of backgrounds.

The group will consider ways of lowering carbon usage across the borough before making a series of recommendations on next steps that should be taken by the council.

Overseeing this process will be an Oversight Panel - with the group set to meet for the first time today.

Council leader Ann Thomson said: “Lowering the carbon usage of the whole borough will require the help of everyone here - it’s not something the council can achieve on its own.”