Plans for £220,000 car club scheme in Portsmouth will only go ahead if financially viable

During a virtual council meeting yesterday (July 16) traffic and transport cabinet member Councillor Lynne Stagg approved plans for public engagement on a potential car club.

This is designed to give residents the choice of booking hire cars located around the city in a bid to reduce vehicle ownership.

If enough people are interested it is hoped to be launched early next year with a small fleet of hybrid or electric cars to begin with. They will be booked using an app.

However, Conservative spokesman for transport, Councillor Simon Bosher, had some fears about ‘charging ahead’ and investing the scheme's full budget straight away.

Speaking at the meeting, he said: ‘This is the best part of a quarter of a million pounds which is a lot of money to spend on something that has previously failed.

‘We are doing quite a lot in traffic with the £214,000 coming from the emergency active fund such as filtered permeability.

‘This is an equivalent amount. I just wonder if it's prudent to approve a break point before going into the procurement process.

‘I am just being a bit cautious over something that could be a roaring success but could also be the elephant in the room.’

However, Wayne Layton, the council's finance manager, said: ‘We are not going to commit to any agreement unless we have a way of meeting the ongoing revenue costs.

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‘We will do some soft market testing and we won’t commit a significant portion of the budget until we do a full financial report.’

It was agreed that the report from the meeting would stipulate the scheme would have to be financially viable for it to progress.

Cllr Stagg had hopes it could prove popular. ‘Some places like Bristol and Nottingham have been very successful with theirs,’ she said.

‘To run a car it costs around £3,000 a year. The cost of hiring one is going to be much less, unless of course you need to use it every day.’

The £220,000 cost will cover the set up of the scheme as well as other methods to promote walking and cycling through workplaces in the city.

If there is enough interest in the scheme it is planned the council will seek a vehicle hire company later this year.

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