Charging an electric car with no driveway, in Hillingdon

The short version

If you live in the London Borough of Hillingdon and park on the street, you cannot currently charge at home. Not with a cable across the pavement, and not with a channel or gully set into it either.

Hillingdon Council is explicit about it. Their position is that they do not permit any cable to be placed across the public highway, even if it is covered or inserted into a gully, because of the trip hazard — and they can act under the Highways Act to have one removed.

That applies to Ruislip, Uxbridge, Ickenham, Northwood, Harefield and the rest of the borough.

But I have seen a £500 government grant advertised

You have, and it is real. There is a government grant of up to £500 for households with only on-street parking.

The catch is that it pays for a cross-pavement solution, and your council has to permit one. Hillingdon does not.

So the grant exists, and in this borough you cannot use it. We would rather say that plainly than take a deposit and let you find out later.

If you live in Pinner or Hatch End you are in Harrow, which is a slightly different position — see below.

What you can actually do

Create off-street parking

This is the real answer for most people. If you have a front garden you can apply to the council for a dropped kerb — a vehicle crossover — and convert it to hardstanding. Once you have off-street parking you can have a charger fitted like anyone else and the whole problem disappears.

It is not cheap and not every property qualifies — it depends on the width of your frontage, the pavement and what is underneath it. But it is the one route that genuinely solves it, and it adds value to the house. Start with the council crossover application, not with us.

Use public chargers nearby

Hillingdon has been adding public charge points and points residents to Zap Map to find them. It is not as cheap as charging at home and it means planning around it, but for a lot of people it works.

Charge at work

If your employer has any off-street parking there is a government grant covering up to £500 per socket, for up to 40 sockets. Worth mentioning to whoever runs the building — we fit these and can talk to them directly if it helps.

Ask your council for a charger in your street

Boroughs do respond to demand, and resident requests are how they decide where to put them. It is slow, but it costs you nothing.

If you are in Pinner or Hatch End

You are in Harrow, and the position is a little better. Harrow does not permit trailing cables either, but it is actively developing a policy for pavement gullies and it is expanding on-street charging, including lamp column chargers for overnight use. See EV charger installation in Pinner.

What we would say if you rang us

If you have no off-street parking in Hillingdon, we will tell you what is on this page and we will not try to sell you an installation.

If you are thinking about a dropped kerb, ring us anyway. We will tell you what the electrical side would involve and roughly cost, so you can work out whether the whole project is worth doing before you apply.

Last checked: August 2026. Council policies change — check hillingdon.gov.uk/electric-vehicles for the current position.

Got off-street parking after all? See EV charger installation.