The government has been busy implementing its planning reform agenda and laying the groundwork to deliver on its promises of cleaner and more secure energy by 2030 with the introduction of:
- Updated energy policies in the National Planning Policy Framework;
- A Clean Power 2030 Action Plan;
- A commission for the production of a Strategic Spatial Energy Plan; and
- A White Paper consultation on devolution in England.
The noise would suggest that this Labour administration is really attempting to grasp the nettle - but how much teeth do the government’s proposals and policy updates really have?
This article provides a brief summary of the key announcements the government has made in the areas of planning and energy, along with our view on whether enough is being done to deliver on Labour’s ambitious promises.
National Planning Policy Framework updates and response to consultation
The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) was updated on 12 December 2024 following an 8-week consultation which was launched shortly after Labour took office. See here for our wider reporting on the NPPF updates.
In response to the climate emergency, the key updates from an energy perspective designed to encourage local authorities to give greater priority to climate change arresting development and energy projects are:
- the introduction of a new paragraph 163 which stipulates that climate change should also be taken into account in the preparation and consideration of planning applications; and
- amendments to paragraph 168 requiring local planning authorities to “give significant weight” to: (i) the benefits associated with applications for renewable and low carbon energy generation proposals including their contribution to net zero; and (ii) the benefits of utilising established sites for the re-powering and life-extension of existing renewable sites.
In the response to the consultation, the government confirmed that onshore wind would be brought back into the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Planning (NSIP) regime, and confirmed that it would be setting a threshold of 100MW. The government also confirmed that it would increase the solar project threshold to 100MW, agreeing with consultees’ views that this was a more appropriate limit than the former 50MW limit or the 150MW originally proposed with the revised threshold (100MW) allowing mid-sized solar projects to progress using the local planning authority route.
The government has confirmed its intention to bring forward legislation in spring 2025 to give effect to these changes, with a transitional period proposed until the end of 2025 so as to provide flexibility for schemes that are in or shortly entering the planning system.
It was, however, acknowledged by the government (agreeing with consultees) that the planning system will need sufficient resourcing and skills to effectively process an increased number of renewables applications.
The Clean Power 2030 Action Plan
The Clean Power 2030 Action Plan was published on 13 December 2024. It aims to set out the blueprint for how the government will achieve its goal of transitioning to 95% clean power sources by 2030, in line with National Energy System Operator (NESO) advice.
The government explains in the Action Plan that “Britain has some of the world’s greatest energy resources, but we have planning and consenting processes that are far too slow to build the infrastructure needed to exploit them”.
The Action Plan sets out that the government will undertake the following ‘reforms’ to help speed up consenting:
- Better equip organisations across the planning system to deal with increased workload and to facilitate the prioritisation of mission-critical projects, including workforce reform, review of resourcing and facilitation of earlier engagement on more complex projects.
- Updates to National Policy Statements (NPS) and a commitment to take powers through primary legislation to update NPSs every five years “through a quicker and easier process”.
- Legislative reform through the Planning and Infrastructure Bill to introduce “new measures to prioritise and streamline the delivery process for critical infrastructure through the planning process” and exploring reforming the judicial review process for NSIP’s following Lord Banner’s recent recommendations.
- Ensuring that the protection of nature is embedded into the delivery of Clean Power 2030 by further exploring how to use development to fund nature recovery thereby “unlocking a win-win outcome for the economy and nature”.
- Ensuring communities directly benefit from clean energy infrastructure they host.
- Working closely with the Scottish and Welsh Governments on the implementation of planning reforms which support the delivery of clean power.
Strategic Spatial Energy Plan: commission to NESO
In October 2024, the government commissioned NESO to produce the first Strategic Spatial Energy Plan (SSEP) for the energy system, land and sea, in Great Britain.
The SSEP is intended to “be complementary” to government policy and market-led interventions, providing “a more strategic approach to spatial planning”, with it becoming “part of the framework of planning systems across [Great Britain]”. The SSEP’s outputs will “directly feed into, and be published in time for, the Centralised Strategic Network Plan (CSNP)”, a plan for transmission network infrastructure which NESO is also developing.
We expect that NESO will in due course map out a programme for delivery of the SSEP and CSNP (taking into account related activities such as undertaking strategic environmental assessment).
English Devolution White Paper
On 16 December 2024, the government published the English Devolution White Paper which sets out an ambitious vision for expanding devolution across England including by establishing a new strategic tier of local government.
The White Paper explains that Strategic Authorities will be “crucial partners” in achieving the government’s clean power mission. The government explains that this will be delivered through (amongst other things):
- Great British Energy working with local government through the Local Power Plan to support the roll out of small-medium renewable energy projects at the local level;
- NESO engaging with Strategic Authorities as it develops Regional Energy Strategic Plans so as to provide a transparent route for local insights to inform energy system planning; and
- establishing heat network zoning at Strategic Authority level with heat network zoning co-ordinators playing a key role in the delivery of heat decarbonisation and their plans taken into account in NESO’s Regional Energy Strategic Plans.
Analysis
The shortcomings of the planning system have been frequently mentioned by the Labour government both before and since coming into office, so it comes as no surprise that ‘planning and consenting’ gets a dedicated chapter within the Clean Power 2030 Action Plan. Some changes are welcome and timely including the recent update to the NPPF and indication that onshore wind power generation is to once again be encouraged in England without necessarily requiring local support. The call for more local benefits as part of clean energy projects is probably anticipated to soften this reversal in policy.
Unfortunately, though, a number of the measures in the Action Plan are broadbrush and aspirational in nature, and they do not substantively build on previous government announcements in this area. For example, there is cross-sector agreement that public authorities need to be better equipped both in terms of personnel and skills. This was laid bare in the ‘Local Authority Planning Capacity and Skills Survey: 2023 findings’ published on 9 January 2025, which revealed that 97% of planning departments reported planning skills gaps and 91% reported difficulty with recruitment. Whilst there is a commitment in the Action Plan to expand cost-recovery mechanisms to ensure that all organisations interfacing with consenting can meet the demand of projects, additional funding will not plug an expertise gap quickly, and the supporting measures (e.g. “review [of] resourcing in key organisations” and “working with universities and skills providers”) lack much-needed specificity and measurability.
In a similar vein, the extent to which community benefit funds/schemes are relevant considerations has long been an issue lacking clarity. The Action Plan does not give any indication as to how this problem will be addressed.
It is interesting to see the government’s proposals for a strategic tier of local government start to take form, and to get an idea of how energy system planning is likely to integrate with the planning system. Clearly, though, much of the work delivering on the 2030 milestone will have to be carried out under the existing system. It is acknowledged that to achieve clean power by 2030 it is going to be “a sprint” and that action is needed “quickly”, but the reality is that it will take at least a few years to properly develop the SSEP/CSNP and to see a significant rollout of local and regional energy plans.
Against this context, we are genuinely curious to see what the government proposes in the Planning and Infrastructure Bill (expected in the spring) to “prioritise and streamline the delivery process for critical infrastructure through the planning process” and whether these legislative interventions will move the dial from aspirational announcements to effective, practical measures which can immediately improve the planning system for all of its users.
The current announcements can probably be best described as providing a strong indication of direction of travel and identification of priorities for government – green shoots. Once this has all taken effect, alongside other ongoing reforms most critically aimed at helping projects to access the grid in a more timely manner, this should help provide the long term policy direction that investors need and help us attract much needed investment into critically important green infrastructure.
However, the call to action and concrete plans/changes will need to pick up pace if the 2030 horizon is to be reached successfully.
DWF has a market leading energy team and advise clients at every stage of an energy project.
If you would like to discuss any of the points raised in this article, please contact Alistair.Paul@dwf.law
