Questions have been asked over whether a drive to encourage more people in Norfolk to switch to electric vehicles can be delivered speedily enough.

Conservative-controlled Norfolk County Council has come up with an electric vehicle strategy as it looks to cut carbon emissions and help people swap petrol and diesel cars for electric ones.

At the moment only 0.6pc of vehicles in Norfolk are electric, but that figure is predicted to increase tenfold by 2025, before rapidly increasing to 27pc by 2030.

But there are only 281 publicly available charging points in Norfolk - yet there is a need to have 1,600 within the next decade.

The council is looking to work with housebuilders and private companies to help get more charging point in place.

But, at a meeting of the council's scrutiny committee on Wednesday (October 20), councillors expressed concern over whether that target was possible.

Councillors have been told they could use a slice of money each member gets through the local highway member fund to get points installed.

But Labour group leader Steve Morphew, chairman of the scrutiny committee, said that would only provide a fraction of the points needed - and would take a long time.

Brian Watkins, leader of the Liberal Democrat group, said he was concerned at a lack of targets for getting points installed.

Martin Wilby, cabinet member for highways and transport, said other funding streams would help get the points installed, with forthcoming trials to install them in Norwich streets.

Eastern Daily Press: Martin Wilby, Norfolk County Council cabinet member for highways, infrastructure and transport. Picture: Danielle BoodenMartin Wilby, Norfolk County Council cabinet member for highways, infrastructure and transport. Picture: Danielle Booden (Image: Archant)

He said: "We have got a lot of work to do, but we have made a really good start. I feel we are in a good place."

Tom McCabe, the council's head of paid service, said pressure would also be brought to bear on developers of housing schemes to get them to include charge points in their schemes.

The council's strategy provoked controversy, as owners of electric vehicles who do not have driveways face having to pay just over £50 for a licence to run cables over public footpaths to charge their cars.

The council has said that is a "temporary" solution while more public charging points are created.