Developer challenges spending public funds on Coventry electric car station
Plans by the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) to purchase a derelict site from Coventry City Council and develop an electric car charging station are being contested by the current leaseholder.
Local developer Paul Bishton, founder of Redleaf, has long held the lease for a large portion of the site, which includes the former Rowleys Green Working Men’s Club near the Coventry Building Society Arena.
Bishton has been collaborating with the council on an alternative development plan that aligns with both the council’s and WMCA’s objectives without using public funds.
Redleaf already has planning consent for the site and is preparing new proposals that include approximately 20 EV charging bays, a coffee shop drive-thru and a drive-thru restaurant.
The company also has international EV and drive-thru operators ready to commit, with their designs already approved.
However, a recent report from the Coventry City Council Cabinet recommends approving the sale of the site to WMCA, allowing the authority to pursue its own plans with public funding.
Redleaf contends that no prior consultation has occurred.
The cabinet meeting to discuss this matter is scheduled for Tuesday, August 27.
Paul Bishton, founder of Redleaf, said: “I am shocked and deeply saddened that Coventry City Council has not consulted with us. For the last 12 months we’ve been actively engaged in delivering a design that meets the declared needs for the combined authority for 20 EV charging spaces. We have detailed designs and operators ready to commit to the resultant scheme proposals.
“Now we find that the council and combined authority have privately hatched a deal for the site’s sale, which is baffling, especially as our long leasehold interest was originally purchased at the behest of the council and in good faith of both parties’ mutual interest. We have invested huge amounts of time and costs into regeneration plans.
“All our work has been geared to deliver the scheme without spending any public money, without the need for the council to necessarily sell their freehold interest, all the while delivering on the declared strategic aims of the combined authority.”
“Despite trying to work with WMCA, it appears we may now be forced out of our own development plot and instead see a lesser scheme come forward, one which does not have any direct design input or formal support from the very operators it seeks to attract, nor consideration of the Hodgkins family gypsy site that shares an existing access.
“WMCA’s responsibility is to use public funds in the public interest and benefit, so why waste public money on repossessing this site when there is already an EV scheme ready to go through private investment. It appears to be a senseless waste of public money. We have now written to elected members and I urge the council to delay the decision and work collaboratively with us to secure the best outcome for the site.”
