Plans that could see East Devon’s car parks become venues for outdoor cinemas have been backed by councillors.

East Devon District Council’s cabinet, when they met on Wednesday night, March 3, backed proposals from the Car Parking TAFF as one of the ways in which they could generate more revenue from car parks when not being used for their primary purpose.

Officers will investigate how the car parks can be used at off peak times, such as the occasional evening cinema, farmers market or car boot sales, with the aim to provide exciting services that residents and visitors can enjoy, as well as generating extra income.

Other proposals from the TAFF – to introduce a night time flat rate of £1, and for the introduction of Sunday parking charges in Ottery St Mary, Honiton and Axminster – were referred back to the TAFF for further consideration, following the decision last week of full council to delay the 20 per cent parking charges rise until April 2022.

But the cabinet backed plans to install electric vehicle charging points across seven car parks in the district, whether an area of some car parks could be considered for hiring out electric bicycles so residents and visitors could explore the local area, and to trial contactless machines to be installed in some car parks to minimise the need for residents to touch buttons while paying for parking.

An urgent cabinet meeting will be arranged shortly for them to approve the details of the scheme, but the electric charging points, to be installed across seven car parks that are able to serve 14 vehicles at a time, will serve both residents and visitors alike, whilst reducing carbon emissions as the public move to using more electric and hybrid vehicles – supporting the EDDC emergency climate declaration and action plan.

The installation of the charging points comes as part of the Innovate UK funded Exeter Rapid Charging Project to install and operate up to 30 further rapid charging units in EDDC’s public car parks in 2021.

Drivers will need to pay to use the charging points but will not have to pay for parking as long as they don’t exceed their charging time.

Cllr Paul Hayward, portfolio holder for economy and assets, said: “This is very time sensitive and we would be loathed to miss this exceptional opportunity to put it mark on electric vehicle charging as a tourism and green initiative.”

Cllr Paul Arnott, leader of the council, added that he wanted an urgent meeting next week with a report on the full details of the scheme, so they can take advantage of the major opportunity.

The cabinet agreed that as a matter of urgency, a report seeking authority to participate in the Innovate UK funded Exeter Rapid Charging project to install and operate up to 30 rapid charging units in EDDC’s public car parks this year be brought forward, and that cabinet also approve the investigation of the options for providing electric bike charging points and the provision of an ebike rental scheme.

In order to encourage the use of cashless payments in car parks, a trial be undertaken in a car park with multiple payment machines, making just one machine available for cash use, the cabinet agreed to, as well as investigate alternative sources of revenue through the use of car parks in East Devon, such as events like outdoor cinemas or car boot sales.

The cabinet had also been asked to make a recommendation to full council on the TAFF’s proposals for Sunday parking charges and the evening flat rate, but in light of the decision to delay the parking charges rise, sent the recommendation back to the TAFF to see if the proposal was still appropriate and for them to reconsider.