Kirklees Council is set to announce a pilot scheme to help residents without a driveway safely charge electric vehicles.

The council sees wires trailing across the pavement as a “significant hazard” and now plans a 12-month trial to ‘bury’ cables into the pavement. This involves digging a shallow channel and laying cable trays.

West Yorkshire Combined Authority has secured £1.5 million from the Department for Transport and Kirklees’ share is £330,000.

That money will be used to subsidise the cost of installing the cable trays.

The council is teaming up with private contractor Kerbo Charge but the cost of installations – and legal permissions – doesn’t come cheap.

The current cost of digging a channel and installing a cable tray is £999 plus VAT along with a non-refundable application fee of £75 and licence fees of £297 for permission under the Highways Act 1980.

During the 12-month trial households will receive up to £1,200 towards installation costs.

After that, and subject to Kirklees Council receiving extra funding, households will receive between £600 and £1,200 towards the cost, subject to eligibility.

Not all locations will be suitable for cable channels and the council will assess each one individually, looking at pavement width, yellow lines, the proximity to crossings or junctions and whether there’s a grass verge.

The council says that 54% of households in Kirklees don’t have a driveway and it has received more than 80 enquiries from people asking about how they can install cross-pavement channels, proving the demand is there.

There are other considerations too, however. Households will be required to have public liability insurance up to £5 million as a condition of owning a channel.

And there is no intention to provide a designated parking space on the roadside for the owner of the cable channel. The council says it is “not possible to regulate the highway in this way” and it would be “impractical and unenforceable.”

The council’s Cabinet will be asked to approve the trial at its meeting on Tuesday October 6.

If approved the trial could start at the end of 2026.

Clr John Hardie, the council’s Cabinet member for regeneration, transport and highways, said: “As more people make the switch to electric vehicles, we need to ensure everyone has a fair opportunity to charge them conveniently and affordably.

“We know that households without off-street parking currently rely on commercial charging points, which can be more expensive than charging at home.

“In contrast, residents with a driveway benefit from lower domestic electricity tariffs and the convenience of charging their vehicle from their own home.

“This trial would help address that imbalance by providing a safe and practical charging solution for residents who don’t have access to off-street parking.”