They could, gothitjulie, but it would be a long slow process.
In a sense Local Authorities have no incentive to provide on-street charging facilities. They make no money out of it. Shouldn’t it be down to the electric utility companies to do the job? No-one expects the council to provide petrol stations – why charging points? If its just because they are on the street, so are (were) phone boxes and post boxes but nothing to do with the council.