Councils want to work as partners with the National Energy System Operator to deliver a national energy system fit for purpose and fit for the future. Councils are well-placed to do this as place-shapers, convenors of communities and partners, delivery agents, commissioners, and owners of assets.
About the Local Government Association (LGA)
The Local Government Association (LGA) is the national voice of local government. We are a politically led, cross party membership organisation, representing councils from England and Wales.
Our role is to support, promote and improve local government, and raise national awareness of the work of councils. Our ultimate ambition is to support councils to deliver local solutions to national problems.
Summary
Councils want to work as partners with the National Energy System Operator to deliver a national energy system fit for purpose and fit for the future. Councils are well-placed to do this as place-shapers, convenors of communities and partners, delivery agents, commissioners, and owners of assets.
Councils, as planning authorities, shape place through the Local Plan making process and through location specific Masterplans. Through these processes, growth areas are identified, and areas of land are designated for uses. These plan making processes shape future land use and with that comes future energy demand.
Increasingly councils are looking to play their role in supporting decision-making around the local energy system. For instance, many councils are now looking to develop Local Area Energy Plans (LAEP). Even in areas that do not have a LAEP, councils are best placed to inform these assumptions as they know their place and their residents. Councils are also considering other ways to best shape place given the largescale shift to the electrification of buildings and transport including establishing energy projects and microgrids.
Councils, as community leaders, can be a positive and influential partner when taking this agenda forward. Many councils are now partnering community energy companies developing community and municipal energy projects, something NESO should look to support.
The LGA agrees that the development of a set of common assumptions to be used across all regions would be helpful, but these should be developed with the spokes to understand the regional variations there will be in the profiles of technology use, consumer behaviours and profiles for the growth in flexibility provision.
The LGA agrees that it is the role of NESO to provide support, upskilling, tools and consistency but if this is to be done well it needs to be well resourced. The Local Net Zero hubs provide similar function, but their capacity falls way short of the demand with many councils not getting any support. The local actor support function needs to be much better resourced than the Local Net Zero Hubs.
The LGA welcomes the recognition It is important that local government is represented at every level if not representing every authority in an area. The final decision of who represents local government on each of the strategic boards should be a local decision that reflects the local government structure and organisation in that area and not an arbitrary national decision.
Local democratic accountability is essential when planning a future energy system for all. Councils understand their place, and they are close to the people who live in the area, understand their needs and concerns, and can translate those views. Councils are also the planning authorities and service providers for their area, they understand local growth needs and could do community engagement across the system to get their buy in.
RESP and Strategic Energy Planning
The LGA is pleased to hear that Ofgem has approved NESO’s proposal for connections reform and that NESO will shortly commence the reordering of the connections queue. Many of our members have been constrained by the existing first come first served approach to the connections queue, many being offered dates up to 10 years in the future for connection.
The LGA welcomes the introduction of the Regional Energy Strategy Plans (RESP), but there is still some uncertainty about how existing Local Area Energy Plans, that many councils have produced at significant cost to the council, will either be incorporated into the RESP in their area or will remain alongside the RESP.
Some Local Area Energy Plans have been used to inform Masterplans and strategic spatial planning documents and where these will need to be amended and revised, the worry is that the cost will fall back on the council. The LGA recommends that where this is the case, councils should be reimbursed for their loss.
Engagement and Local Actor Support
The LGA welcomes NESOs intention to prioritise local actor engagement and is pleased NESO recognises the important role local government plays in ensuring and supporting the energy system transition.
We welcome the breadth and depth of engagement planned across the five engagement categories but suggests that as well as engaging with local government, NESO should consider more how they can engage through local government to speak to some of the harder to reach communities that will often find this transition most disruptive.
The Framework for local actor support looks to be about right but in the detailed planning phase it needs to be factored in that this support needs to be available for all local authorities in the RESP region. The RESPs will need to consider most of the functions all local authorities undertake and all the services they provide. This is currently 317 authorities in England.
District councils, Borough councils and Unitary authorities are the planning authorities and the housing providers, County Councils provide education, highways and waste disposal functions, all lending too or drawing from the energy system. Many councils are now considering being renewable energy generators or owners of assets, providing energy into the system.
Bristol City Council became the first council to own and operate an onshore wind turbine and Warrington Borough Council now own three solar farms. Councils are key to wider land-use considerations, knitting together strategies for housing and growth via local plans, alongside energy systems, but also in protecting and growing nature through Local Nature Recovery Strategies and local transport plans. Many councils are now partnering community energy companies developing community and municipal energy projects, something NESO should look to support.
The LGA agrees that the role of the NESO is to provide support, upskilling, tools and consistency but if this is to be done well it needs to be well resourced. The Local Net Zero hubs provide a similar function, but their capacity falls way short of the demand with many councils not getting any support. The local actor support function needs to be much better resourced than the Local Net Zero Hubs.
The roles of the local actor support function also need to be varied. There is a definite need for technical and data support but there is also an engagement role that will be increasingly important in helping councils with internal and external engagement. Councils hold and have access to considerable data, but that data needs to be regularly updated and refreshed if it is to be of optimal use to the RESPs. The costs of managing and updating data for use by the RESPs will need to form part of the support provision.
Local Government is extremely resource constrained at present and I expect NESO will likely come across some authorities that do not even have the capacity to engage, let alone act. On these occasions we would hope there could be some flexibility in the local actor support being offered to facilitate a level of engagement the authority could not achieve alone.
Across England, councils are engaging with the Distribution Network Operators (DNOs/DSOs) in their area and in some cases, working very closely, sharing resources and working in partnership to achieve common goals. NESO should help share this best practice and work with the DNO’s to encourage the replication of this best practice in every place across the nation.
Governance
Local democratic accountability is essential when planning a future energy system for all. Councils understand their place, and they are close to the people who live in the area, understand their needs and concerns, and can translate those views. Councils are also the planning authorities and service providers for their area, and they understand local growth needs.
Councillors are democratically elected and serve their electorate. They are in constant communication with the electorate and are therefore best placed to represent the needs of communities. Flexibility to allow senior officers to attend as substitutes from time to time should be allowed in the terms of reference for occasions when discussions are of a more technical nature or an element of consistency is required.
It is important that local government is represented at every level if not representing every authority in an area. In two tier authority areas where there is not a combined authority a representative from each of the tiers should be included as a minimum. District and Borough councils are the planning authorities and social housing providers, and lead local economic development strategy, waste collection and street cleansing and County Councils are the transport authorities, education authorities and leisure service providers.
A core interest in energy system planning and provision is of substantial interest and importance to Borough, District, Unitary, County and Combined authorities but in many ways district, borough and unitary authority functions have a great reliance on a fit for purpose energy system and are democratically closer to the residents, communities and businesses that create the demand profile for energy.
We welcome the proposed Local Government Working Group open to all tiers of local government and the recognition that all authorities should have a formal role in RESP governance.
The final decision of who represents local government on each of the strategic boards should be a local decision that reflects the local government structure and organisation in that area and not an arbitrary national decision.
The LGA agrees with the proposed representation for the GB Steering Committee. The LGA works closely with UK100 and we recognise the value of having representation from both the LGA and UK100 on the GB Steering Committee.
The RESP Components
The objective of developing a set of Consistent Planning Assumptions for technologies, processes and industries, and building in flexibility for known variations such as average air temperature and other meteorological factors is welcomed but review gateways should be built in to ensure that operational conditions are aligning with the assumptions made.
The development of an accessible digital geospatial mapping tool that presents the RESP pathways is encouraged but this should be developed in partnership with the local planning authorities to ensure that spatial development plans and location specific masterplans are developed alongside and using the same, similar or comparable data.
Societal considerations are increasingly important for councils and the residents that live in their areas. Inflation, cost of living and fluctuating energy prices continue to make it difficult for households to make ends meet and as it currently stands, the increased electrification of heating and transport runs a significant risk of increasing energy bills at this very challenging time. Councils understand the need to balance the cost to residents now, alongside the measures required to meet the needs of the future.
Councils are often supporting households that are experiencing financial difficulties and therefore councils should be involved in NESO’s work on societal considerations.