At least 600 lamp-post EV chargers are coming to Islington, but none can go in before July 2028. Resident permit bays stay open to all permit holders.
At least 600 electric car chargers are to be fitted to lamp posts on Islington’s residential streets. None of them can be installed before July 2028.
The council approved the plan on 22 September. It will buy the chargers jointly with Camden, which is the lead borough and wants at least 500 of its own. The decision is published as key decision 1032654, signed by the Director of Public Realm, Climate Change and Transport.
Updated 2 October: the council’s decision record shows the decision took effect on 26 September, with no call-in recorded, so the joint procurement with Camden can go ahead.
Why nothing happens until 2028
Most of Islington’s street lights are run under a private finance (PFI) contract that ends on 1 July 2028. The officer report says installation “cannot begin” until that contract has ended and the columns are back in council hands.
There is a second reason. About 1,500 older lamp columns, put up before 2003, will start needing replacement from July 2028. The council wants to fit chargers to new columns as it goes, rather than to old ones it would soon have to dig up. It has bid for £1 million to replace those columns.
The report’s own timetable is:
What residents get
- At least 600 chargers by the end of 2030. The operator is expected to add more at its own cost. Offering extra chargers counts for 27.5% of the tender score.
- Slow, overnight charging. Lamp-post chargers are limited to about 5kW, because lamp columns were not built to carry heavy electrical loads.
- No lost parking. The council will not turn permit bays into EV-only bays. Anyone with the right permit for the zone can still park beside a charger, electric or not.
- A cap on the mark-up. The contract will set a maximum price the operator can charge above its energy costs. The operator can ask for that cap to be reviewed after the first year.
A small number of sites will use a new bollard wired to the lamp post instead of the lamp post itself.
Who pays
The council puts no capital in. The government’s Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (LEVI) fund gave the Camden and Islington partnership £1.865m, split equally. Islington’s £932,500 is divided:
| Use | Amount |
|---|---|
| 5kW lamp-post chargers (this contract) | £279,750 |
| Faster 7kW to 22kW chargers (a separate contract, still to come) | £652,750 |
The grant covers up to half the capital cost. The operator pays the rest. Islington also gets £123,000 of revenue funding between 2026/27 and 2028/29 to run the two procurements. The report says the council should receive at least £60,000 a year from the contract, which runs for 15 years.
Enfield was originally part of the partnership but withdrew. The report also warns that this is expected to be the last major government grant for on-street charging.
What it means for you
The council says it had installed 772 on-street chargers by the end of June 2026, so there is already some provision. This contract is the next wave, not the first.
If you are planning a switch to an electric car in 2027, do not count on a new lamp-post charger in your street before the second half of 2028. The report does not yet say which streets will get them. The operator will survey sites before July 2028, and some sites may wait for their lamp column to be replaced.
The report also flags a risk outside the council’s control. Only 27.3% of new cars registered in the UK in May were battery electric, below the 33% the government’s mandate requires for 2026. It warns that weaker targets could slow investment in chargers.
Councillors have until 25 September to call the decision in. If they do not, it takes effect on 26 September. For permit prices and bay rules, see our guide to parking in Islington.
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