There is a homeowner in Pathhead, Midlothian, who has been fighting for the right to charge his electric car on his own land. Not on someone else’s land. Not on the public road. On a piece of tarmac that he owns, in front of his own house, that used to be his front garden before it was adopted as part of the public highway.
Transport Scotland objected. They said that despite the land being in his ownership, it formed part of the public footpath. They worried that allowing a charger might lead to cars parked on the road being connected to it, with cables crossing the pavement.
I want to pause here and acknowledge how perfectly this captures the Scottish planning experience. A man owns land. He wants to put something on it. A government agency that has never visited his house raises hypothetical concerns about what might theoretically happen. Months of bureaucracy follow.
Common Sense Prevails (Eventually)
Midlothian councillors, to their credit, overturned the planning officers’ refusal at an appeal hearing. Councillor Willie McEwan said he had never come across a situation where someone was being prevented from meeting government targets for electric vehicle uptake on their own property. “It makes no sense,” he said.
It does not make sense. And it should not have taken a Local Review Body appeal for that to become apparent.
Transport Scotland then had the opportunity to ask Scottish Ministers to call in the decision, which would have meant even more delay and expense for a man who simply wanted to plug in his car. To their credit, they ultimately stood down after councillors added a condition: the charger can only be used for vehicles parked on the land directly in front of the house.
Scottish Ministers confirmed they would not intervene, noting that Transport Scotland acknowledged “in this instance there is a clear distinction between the designated foot way and the area of hard standing within the applicant’s ownership.”
A Bigger Problem
This story has a happy ending for one homeowner, but it reveals a systemic problem. Scotland is supposed to be encouraging the switch to electric vehicles. The government sets targets, offers incentives, and talks constantly about net zero. And then, when an actual person tries to install an actual charger on land they actually own, the same government’s transport agency throws up roadblocks.
How many people in similar situations simply gave up? How many looked at the planning process, the objections, the potential for ministerial call in, and decided it was easier to keep filling up at the petrol station?
If Scotland is serious about electric vehicles, and I believe we should be, then the planning system needs to make it straightforward for homeowners to install chargers. Not just theoretically possible after months of appeals, but genuinely easy. The fact that this case made the news at all tells you how far we have to go.
Congratulations to the homeowner in Pathhead. He can finally charge his car. It only took a council appeal, a government review, and Scottish Ministers weighing in on the placement of a single plug socket.
