A BOROUGH is to introduce a four-hour limit for charging electric vehicles in its special off-street parking bays.

Blackburn with Darwen Council is to bring in a new Traffic Regulation Order to impose the restriction.

It will also formalise its ban on petrol and diesel cars parking in the bays.

The new order will apply to the charging points on its car parks in Brown Street, Eanam Old Road, the Feilden Street multi-storey, Varley Street and Weir Street in Blackburn and in the Darwen Market Rooftop car park.

A report by borough highways boss Cllr Phil Riley said: “To meet and facilitate the growth of plug-in vehicles, electric vehicle (EV) charging points have been introduced within council owned pay and display car parks.

“To make the charge points accessible and functional, changes to parking restrictions are required. In the context of EVs, the order can be used to restrict access for petrol or diesel vehicles to charging bays and limit the length of stay of an EV to four hours.”

His report adds: “The will allow Civil Enforcement Officers to undertake enforcement for the misuse of electric vehicle only parking bays.”