GREEN motorists in Wrexham will soon have a wider choice of electrical charging points to plug their vehicles into as part of a new council initiative.

Wrexham Council wants to create a network of charging points across the borough as part of its commitment to reducing its carbon footprint.

While 2013 figures for the numbers of people owning electric and hybrid vehicles in Wrexham was no more than 4,500 the trend towards ditching diesel and petrol is growing nationally.

New registrations of plug-in vehicles increased from 3,500 to more than 130,000 by the end of last year.

The first phase of the scheme, funded from the council's carbon budget, will see points sited in council-owned car parks at Waterworld, Ty Pawb, Ty Mawr and Alyn Waters Country Parks and also at Trevor Basin at the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct.

Then depending on a successful £180,000 funding bid the scheme will be rolled out to include over 10 sites of strategic importance such as Wrexham Industrial Estate and Wrexham Bus Station.

Cllr David Bithell, lead member for environment and transport, declared: "We are trying to promote a reduction in our carbon footprint and this will go some way.

"There are not enough of these points available and we want to encourage people to change from diesel to electric in the long term."

The rapid expansion of electric car technology has seen charging points mushroom across the country, but there has been a slow take up in North Wales. The council scheme will double the number of locations where charging points are available across the borough. Currently there are points at the Ramada Plaza hotel in Wrexham, Erddig Hall, Lindop Toyota dealership, Llyndir Hall Hotel and Chirk Castle

Cllr David Kelly, lead member for planning and corporate services, said: "Battery-based technology is moving so fast and in four to five years we won't be looking at the same vehicles that we are now.

"The Government plans to ban petrol and diesel vehicles by 2040."

The council's first points would be installed at the five sites by September this year at a cost of £132,500 with charging fees kept low to encourage use.

Leader of the council, Cllr Mark Pritchard said: "We have got to start now and cater for the demand in Wrexham, it is a global issue as the car manufacturers will just be making electric cars in the future.

"This will give our local economy a boost - we can be saying 'Come to Wrexham, we've got electric charging points', we want to lead the way on this."

Cllr Bithell added: "We've have a great track record and have looked at biomass projects, PVC insulation and installing photovoltaic cells on our housing stock.

"We will be the first council to install charging points on this scale."

The scheme is subject to the approval of the council's Executive Board which meets next Tuesday (March 13).