A 24-bay ultra-rapid charging hub with an 85-panel solar canopy is approved at Bluewater's Lime Tree Avenue car park, a month after it was withdrawn.

Bluewater’s second electric vehicle charging hub has been approved, five weeks after the first version of the plan was withdrawn.

Dartford Borough Council granted planning permission on Friday 9 October for 12 charging upstands serving 24 bays in the Lime Tree Avenue car park, under a solar canopy (decision notice). The applicant is Raw Charging, the same company whose smaller hub in the Village car park was approved in July. We reported on both schemes in September.

The application, reference 26/01019/FUL, was decided by a planning officer rather than at committee. No neighbour comments were received, and Stone Parish Council did not respond.

What has been approved

Raw Charging’s planning statement lists the kit (planning, design and access statement):

  • 12 dual-port charging upstands, each serving two bays, so 24 charging bays
  • a high-voltage substation, 2.4 metres high, coloured green
  • a feeder pillar and three power cabinets
  • a solar canopy over the central aisle of chargers
  • a CCTV tower and five lighting poles, each 4 metres high

The chargers take the standard CCS2 connector, so they are not tied to one car brand. The bays go into existing parking spaces rather than new ground. A one-way system will run through the hub, the statement says.

The statement also lists a battery storage unit. The council’s planning officer included it in the description of the scheme, but the decision notice itself does not name it.

The solar canopy

The canopy is the part that needed planning permission. The chargers and most of the equipment would have been allowed anyway under permitted development rights, the statement says, but solar panels on a carport are not.

The numbers from the statement:

Solar canopy Figure
Solar panels 85
Generating capacity about 55 kWp
Canopy length 25.08 metres
Maximum height 4 metres

The officer’s report puts the canopy at about 260 square metres. It said the panels “will appear as an alien feature”, but that the harm “is not sufficient to warrant refusal” once the benefits were weighed. The report notes that a similar solar carport has gone up at Fairfield leisure centre in Dartford (delegated report).

Why it was withdrawn, and why it came back

The first version, 26/00802/FUL, was withdrawn on 1 September. The officer’s report gives the reason in one line: it was “withdrawn to avoid BNG requirements”. BNG is biodiversity net gain, the rule that most new developments must leave nature measurably better off.

The first scheme was caught because it moved four trees out of the parking aisles. The officer says Kent County Council could not be sure those trees would survive the move, and they were going outside the site boundary.

The new application went in the same day, 1 September. By then, the officer says, the August 2026 changes to BNG thresholds had taken effect, and the scheme now qualifies for an exemption. The four trees are still being moved to the edge of the site under the plans, which say there will be “no net loss of trees”.

Where it is

The hub sits near one of the main entrances to Bluewater’s car parks and the Marks and Spencer store. Buses use the same entrance to reach the bus station, the officer’s report says. Raw Charging describes it as being on the opposite side of the centre from the Village car park hub.

That puts it next to the Bean Road Fastrack scheme, which includes a new underpass beneath the B255. The council asked Kent County Council to check for any clash. Kent’s highways and planning teams said they foresaw none, and that the two project teams had talked before the application went in.

What the council did not approve

The plans show two totem signs, one 4.5 metres tall and one 2 metres. They are not part of this permission and will need separate advertisement consent.

The council has already warned Raw Charging about the taller one. The decision says it “does not appear to comply” with the local plan policy for Bluewater and could harm “Bluewater’s Parkland setting”.

What it means for you

  • If you drive an electric car to Bluewater, there will be two Raw Charging hubs once both are built: 12 bays in the Village car park and 24 at Lime Tree Avenue.
  • No opening date has been given. The permission must be started within three years, by October 2029.
  • There are few strings attached. The only conditions are the three-year time limit and building to the approved plans.
  • Fewer ordinary spaces? The first hub cost three parking spaces. The Lime Tree Avenue documents do not give a figure. Kent Highways noted that some of the bays are slightly under the council’s 5-metre depth standard, but did not object.

The full application is on the council’s planning register. Our guide to Dartford planning applications explains how to search it and comment on others.

Sources