Monday January 26th 2026
Home owner argues area outside his Pathhead home is used for parking and should have an EV charge pic courtesy Midlothian Council.
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Marie Sharp
A village home owner is battling to be allowed to install his own electric car charger after claiming it would cost a fraction of commercial fees to power his vehicle.
Midlothian planners refused to grant permission for the car owner to install a home charger at his house on the High Street, Pathhead, after Transport Scotland objected saying the area where he planned to park was a public footpath.
However the applicant insisted the area in front of his house was part of his property and separate to the pavement.
Now he is appealing to the council’s Local Review Body to overturn the decision saying it would be far cheaper to charge at home.
He says charging at commercial points can cost between 42p per KWH to 85p per KWH while doing it at home can, be as little as 7p per KWH if using a reduced overnight rate.
And he claims the two public chargers available near his home are not reliable.
In his appeal statement, he says: “As you will be aware the purchase of new petrol and diesel cars will be prohibited from 2030 with both the UK and Scottish Governments encouraging the purchase of hybrid and electric vehicles.
“Currently the charging infrastructure is very poor and is generally introduced in commercial areas.
“Pathhead has two public chargers but these are located adjacent to the primary school, about half a mile from my house. It is obviously not convenient to park my car on the other side of the village. In addition the cost of charging here is 42p per KWH when they work. They were also recently out of order for many months.”
The owner of the house had argued while he did not have a driveway he owned the land immediately in front of his house and considered it ‘off road parking’.
And he has submitted photographs showing people parked on the tarmac, which is separated from the road by a bricked footpath.
However a report by Midlothian Council planning officers said Transport Scotland had objected to the plans saying the area of land was part of the public footpath and could not have cable trailed over it between a charger and vehicle.
Rejecting the application to install the charger planners said: “Whilst the planning authority is generally supportive of measures which help to
address climate change this does not outweigh road safety concerns and, as such, planning permission should be refused on the foregoing grounds.”
The appeal will be heard by councillors next week.
Tweet Share on Facebook
