Local planning authorities in the UK face resource constraints that limit their ability to engage with energy planning, and many planning officers lack the expertise to engage with energy planning processes effectively.
Research by nonprofit energy organisation Regen, in collaboration with the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI), into the effectiveness of local energy planning and spatial planning found that the lack of expertise at local planning level causes delays and higher costs.
Local authorities play a major role in facilitating the renewable energy developments needed to meet clean power targets in the UK. Energy planning, as conducted in Local Area Energy Plans, can provide a strategic framework for this, tailored to the needs of an area, but their existence does not by default mean action is taken or investment is made.
This is where, as Regen sees it, strategic spatial planning can reduce delays, mitigate opposition and ensure energy development reflects local priorities. Regen’s head of local energy Poppy Maltby discussed this with Solar Power Portal, explaining that the National Energy System Operator (NESO) will develop Regional Energy Strategic Plans (RESPs) to achieve this.
Supporting local authority energy planning
According to the research, there is currently no clear support in place to help local authorities integrate energy planning with spatial planning; the report published by Regen and RTPI aims to help planners and energy professionals “navigate the evolving energy policy and planning regimes”.
Regen recommends a series of actions for central government, and for local authorities that would help overcome the challenges preventing effective integration of energy and spatial planning.
Development plans are not consistently aligned with net zero goals, Regen said, so the UK government should make net zero compliance a statutory requirement in all local plans, ensuring that there is a clear and enforceable criteria defining what compliance entails. It should also support local authorities to achieve that compliance.
Further, the UK government should issue guidance clarifying the roles and interactions of spatial planning and energy planning, as well as the best ways to integrate the two.
To solve resource constraints and knowledge gaps, central government should provide more funding and support to increase local authority resourcing, and fund training programmes for local planning authorities to improve knowledge about the energy system, and best practices for integrating energy planning into local plans.
Although without the above support from central government, local authorities are unlikely to be able to overcome those obstacles, some challenges can be addressed at a local level.
Local authorities could establish their own governance structures to integrate planning and energy teams. Regen also found that they should set clear contractual expectations when commissioning energy plans from external consultants that require “meaningful” involvement of local communities, consistent data outputs, and the upskilling of local authority teams to be able to use that data to inform spatial planning.
Ultimately, Regen pointed out that with the Strategic Spatial Energy Plan due next year, the alignment of energy and spatial planning is crucial at local level so that there is integration at the national level, too.
