Bluewater EV Charging Approved, Solar Carport Plan Pulled

Bluewater is getting a new bank of electric vehicle chargers in its Village car park, but a second and much larger charging scheme at the centre has been dropped.

Dartford Borough Council approved the Village car park scheme on 6 July 2026, under delegated powers rather than at committee. Six weeks later a separate application for the Lime Tree Avenue car park, which would have added solar carport canopies and a battery storage unit, was withdrawn on 1 September, three days before the council’s deadline to decide it.

Both applications are on the council’s planning register.

What was approved

The applicant is Raw Charging, with the planning case put together by the consultancy Enzygo and dated 30 March 2026. The site is the southernmost car park, west of the former House of Fraser unit and next to the service road.

The approved equipment is:

• three HYC150 DC charging upstands
• three HYC50 DC charging upstands
• one substation, 2.4 metres high, 3.3 metres long and 3 metres wide
• one feeder pillar
• underground cabling to the grid connection

Raw Charging’s own statement says one charging upstand serves two bays, so the six upstands cover 12 charging bays. They sit in existing parking spaces rather than on new ground. The company told the council it had identified this part of Kent as “lacking in sufficient ultra-rapid EV charging infrastructure”.

The visible new kit is the substation and the feeder pillar, and both will be green glass-reinforced plastic. The council’s case officer was candid about how that looks: the equipment does “not enhance the setting but equally, given their scale and location, they do not detract from the wider Bluewater environment”, and “this technology is relatively young and smaller or better designed equipment is not readily available”.

Three parking spaces go

The one cost to other drivers is small and specific. EV bays are wider than standard ones, so the scheme removes three parking spaces. Kent Highway Services raised no objection, telling the council that “whilst the application results in the loss of 3 spaces, this is not significant”.

Kent Fire and Rescue also had no objection. Stone Parish Council, which covers Bluewater, did not respond. No neighbours commented at all. The nearest occupiers the officer could identify were the temporary Tesla facility in the car park to the south and the empty former House of Fraser unit to the east, with the closest homes several hundred metres away and much higher up.

The permission carries only the two standard conditions, a time limit and a list of approved plans. The council found the scheme exempt from biodiversity net gain requirements and not liable for the Community Infrastructure Levy.

What was withdrawn

The Lime Tree Avenue application was the more ambitious of the two. Alongside the chargepoints and substation it proposed lighting, a BESS unit, CCTV and a solar carport canopy. A BESS is a battery energy storage system, which stores electricity on site so a charging hub can draw power steadily from the grid and release it fast when cars plug in. The solar canopy would have generated some of that power over the parking bays themselves.

It was validated on 10 July, consulted on until 4 August, and had a determination deadline of 4 September. The council issued the withdrawal decision on 1 September.

The register gives no reason, and it publishes no documents at all for this application, so there is no planning statement, no drawings and no named applicant on the public record. We cannot say from the register whether the scheme has been abandoned or is being redrawn for resubmission.

What it means for you

If you drive an electric car to Bluewater, more charging is coming to the Village car park, though the permission sets no deadline for building it beyond the standard three years. The 12 bays will be in existing spaces, so the net loss to general parking is three places in one car park. Bluewater already has chargers elsewhere on site: the officer’s report describes the new bank as being “in a different location to the current chargers”, which is part of why he found it acceptable.

For the bigger picture, the withdrawal is the more interesting half. The council’s Local Plan policy M21 sets the general test for anything built at Bluewater, requiring that it does not undermine the centre’s role, keeps highway impact down and protects the parkland setting. The approved scheme cleared that test in eight weeks. Whatever happens next at Lime Tree Avenue will start again from scratch, and a new application would come with a fresh consultation you can comment on.

If you park at Bluewater rather than charge there, our parking in Dartford guide covers the town-centre alternatives and the on-street rules.

Sources

• Dartford Borough Council planning register, application 26/00538/FUL, Land at Village Car Park, Bluewater Shopping Centre: proposal, dates, and the decision to permit on 6 July 2026
• Delegated report sheet for 26/00538/FUL, published 6 July 2026 (consultation responses from Kent Highway Services and Kent Fire Brigade, the loss of three spaces, the officer’s assessment, conditions, BNG and CIL positions, policy M21)
• Planning, Design and Access Statement for 26/00538/FUL, prepared by Enzygo Limited for Raw Charging, dated 30 March 2026 (equipment schedule, substation dimensions, one upstand per two bays, the ultra-rapid charging claim)
• Dartford Borough Council planning register, application 26/00802/FUL, Land at Lime Tree Avenue Car Park, Bluewater Shopping Centre: proposal including the BESS unit and solar carport canopy, consultation dates, determination deadline of 4 September 2026, and the withdrawal issued on 1 September 2026

Both applications can be read in full on the council’s public access register, which also carries the drawings and the decision notice for the approved scheme. Details were checked on 6 September 2026.