WHEELCHAIR users in Newport will have “much more freedom” after campaigners won their fight to have an emergency charging point placed in the city centre.

The charging point, at the library in John Frost Square, is the first to be installed by a council in the UK and was donated by Rookwood Hospital in Cardiff.

It is available free of charge and is the culmination of campaigning from local group Disabled Open Opportunity Ringland Social (DOORS).

Group member Roseann Savross had seen charging points in Australia and her native Canada, but after DOORS scoured the UK market, they found none existed here.

“This scheme was developed in response to the increasing number of people using electric wheelchairs around Newport,” she said.

“Negotiating the steep roads and footpaths meant that batteries ran low and often deterred people from travelling around the city.”

DOORS founder Bernard Allen said: “This is a wonderful thing for disabled people in Newport, it will allow them much more freedom.”

The new charger point will allow users of mobility scooters and electric wheelchairs to recharge batteries while out in the city centre.