Eighty new lamp post charge points for electric vehicles are to be installed before the end of the month.

Brighton and Hove City Council, which has been named the local authority with the best on-street charging coverage in the UK outside London, plans to add hundreds more charge points across the city.

Within the last two weeks, 20 new lamp post charge points have been installed, with 80 more set to be put in place by the end of August.

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The council said it will then add more chargers by the end of the year across 16 sites, with enough to supply 51 more vehicles than before.

Once this is done, the city will have almost 500 electric chargers.

A council spokesman said these have been funded through a government grant of more than £440,000.

The grant covers 60 per cent of the total cost, while Blink Charging, an EV charging operator, is responsible for the rest.

The council also received £2.865 million from the government's Local EV Infrastructure (LEVI) fund which will be used to install at least 1,650 new charge points over the next three years.

More information can be found at https://www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/travel-and-road-safety/electric-vehicle-ev-charging.

Councillor Trevor Muten, cabinet member for transport, parking and public realm, said: "This really is great news.

"To be named number one in this report is a fantastic achievement and a credit to the hard work being done to grow our electric vehicle infrastructure.

"The number of residents and businesses making the switch to electric vehicles is rising so it’s vital we continue to invest or risk falling behind.

"More charge points means buying an electric vehicle becomes a viable option for people when the time comes to purchase a new car.

"If they can make the switch away from petrol and diesel it will help improve air quality and achieve our net zero goals."