Forty charging points for electric cars are set to be installed around north Norfolk in a project to cost almost a quarter-of-a-million pounds.

North Norfolk District Council has drawn up the plans to cater for the growing shift towards electric away from petrol and diesel vehicles.

The council would pay for £95,00 towards the overall cost of £248,600, with the rest to come from a £150,000 Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV) grant and a £3,000 'workplace chargepoint grant'.

The council's outline of the plan says there is a rising demand for charging points at popular locations, and implied that failing to provide them could lead to visitors going elsewhere.

It reads: "Potential visitors to this area are therefore likely to start to make decisions on their preferred destination based upon the availability of [electric vehicle charging points] EVCs.

"Local businesses who rely on customers who travel to or around the district by car will also begin to look to the council for infrastructure that supports EVs."

The charging points would be put in at Meadow Car Park and the council offices in Cromer, Stearman's Yard in Wells, New Road in North Walsham, Albert Street in Holt, Queens Road in Fakenham and Morris Street in Sheringham.

The council's cabinet will consider the plan on Monday, and it would then go before full council for final approval.

The shift to electric: The facts

-Only about 500 electric cars were registered each month during the first half of 2014, but this jumped to an average of 5,000 per month during 2018.

-There are around 200,000 electric vehicles on UK roads, making up just 0.5pc of all cars.

-This figure is estimated to reach at least six million vehicles by 2030.

-By 2040, sales of new internal combustion engine - diesel and petrol - vehicles are expected to be virtually zero.

-According to the Department of Transport, the UK's most popular plug-in vehicle, by some margin, is the Mitsubishi's Outlander, which is a hybrid electric vehicle. More than 40,500 have already sold. The next most popular is the Nissan Leaf, which is a 'pure' electric vehicle, with more than 25,500 sold.