Getting planning for major energy projects right will mean the UK can move from “gridlock to growth” and deliver cheaper, cleaner energy to communities across the UK, the government has been told.
Setting the scene in a new report, the Energy Security and Net Zero Committee explained how the status quo has been a “first come, first served” approach for applications connecting to the power grid. This has led to a backlog, filled with many projects that will likely never be built, with no prioritisation by commercial, environmental or community viability, nor any reflection of where energy supply or storage is needed.
Steps have been taken by government to rectify this through national strategic plans that map energy need and show where infrastructure should be built, but the committee feels there needs to be more to end “energy planning chaos”. This includes greater clarity on how plans such as the Clean Power 2030 Action Plan and Strategic Spatial Energy Plan relate to grid connection decisions and the development consent process, with the committee stressing they should only inform planning outcomes.
It also highlighted issues around the failure of some developers to deliver ecological enhancements and landscape mitigations that they do promise during the planning process. This suggests there are “systemic failings” that risk bringing the planning system into disrepute. It therefore called for stronger enforcement, while highlighting the benefit of “nature-positive” infrastructure, bringing together environmental and energy goals, rather than offsetting.
It further recommended using strategic planning to see earlier, deeper community engagement. This should come well before the formal consent stage, with it noting how many local campaigns call for there to be offshore or underground alternatives to transmission infrastructure. These, however, are significantly more expensive options that would all be paid for by billpayers – most of which would not actually be impacted by proposed routes.
With research showing when communities are properly engaged with and presented with the full range of options and trade-offs, there is scope for initial opposition to shift. By doing this earlier engagement, complex judgements can be resolved more quickly, leading to faster delivery of the UK’s energy plans and clean power infrastructure, meaning stronger progress down the country’s net zero path.
