A total of 18 new electric vehicle (EV) charging points have gone live in North Yorkshire’s national parks.
The charging points are funded by BMW UK through its Recharge in Nature partnership with National Parks UK.
Twelve of the new EV charge-points have been installed in the Yorkshire Dales National Park, at the Malham National Park Visitor Centre; the Dales Countryside Museum in Hawes; and Grassington National Park Visitor Centre.
In the North York Moors, six chargers can be found at Sutton Bank National Park Centre, with an additional six chargers set to be installed at Danby Lodge National Park Centre.
Neil Heseltine, chair of the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority and National Parks Partnerships’ Board Member, said: “The Yorkshire Dales National Park alone welcomed 5.1 million visitors in 2022. We’re so pleased that our partnership with BMW UK will support those who are travelling to Yorkshire’s national parks in EVs, to do so with more confidence.
“Part of our responsibility as National Parks is to conserve and enhance the natural beauty, wildlife and cultural heritage of our parks and this includes facilitating more sustainable journeys to Yorkshire’s national parks.”
The UK has nearly 54,000 public charging points but one third of these are currently in London.
Graham Biggs, corporate communications director, BMW UK, said: “The UK’s EV infrastructure rollout is continuing at pace and we need to see this accelerate to reach at least 300,000 charge-points by 2030.
“It’s important that the distribution of these chargers is spread right across the UK and we need to ensure that our countryside is brought up to speed with the bigger cities.”
Alongside the installation of EV chargers throughout all national parks, the Recharge in Nature partnership is also supporting community impact and nature restoration projects unique to the individual National Parks.
The North York Moors National Park is using BMW funding to support outdoor volunteering programmes for families and young adults.
Heather McNiff, head of outdoor learning and engagement at the North York Moors National Park, said: “Historically we have lots of very young volunteers, as well as people aged over 40, but we’ve struggled to engage individuals that fall between those age brackets.
“Thanks to BMW UK’s funding we’re able to support ‘Youth Plus’, which provides more opportunities for those aged 16 and over to engage with volunteering in the national park.
“We’re passionate that everyone should have the opportunity to enjoy the outdoors and so BMW’s funding also supports young people from disadvantaged backgrounds or those with additional accessibility requirements to access the national park and its volunteering programmes.”
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