A green party city councillor said there needs to be a focus on moving people away from a dependency on cars amid a council's drive towards incentivising electric vehicle ownership.

Carlisle City Council announced that 11 new electric vehicle chargepoints are now available in the city to make Carlisle more accessible for electric vehicle drivers.

The chargepoints are the result of a partnership between the council and local Community Benefit Society Charge My Street.

Green Carlisle City Councillor, Helen Davison said: "It is really great to see that the city council is working to increase the amount of community infrastructure for people to charge electric vehicles as the availability of charging points is important for people in their considerations about moving to electric vehicles.

"And it is also great that the city council has started to transition its fleet to electric vehicles.

"However, electric vehicles remain out of the price range for many people and just swapping all existing petrol and diesel cars for electric vehicles will come with its own significant environmental cost, damage and carbon footprint.

"What we really need is action now by our councils and other key organisations to look at how we move people away from dependence upon cars and car ownership."

"This includes ensuring a significant investment in much better public transport networks so that it becomes the cheapest and most convenient way for people to travel around the city and beyond, setting up rural transport hubs e.g. at railway stations so people can leave cars or bicycles there rather than need to drive in and looking at car share schemes, alongside a shift to prioritising walking, cycling and public transport over and above the car in all decisions about transport, rather than the current continual investment in more roads and car parking in city centres.

Sales of EVs in Europe more than doubled in 2020 despite the overall decrease in overall car sales over the coronavirus pandemic. The government plan to end the sale of all new diesel and petrol cars by 2030.