Local powers sought to ban technologies in new heat zones

A group of council leaders has urged the government to give local authorities the power to ban certain technologies in designated heat network zones.

Last week, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities closed a consultation on proposed reforms to the National Planning Policy Framework, including changes to the onerous planning requirements that have largely put a stop to onshore wind development in England since their introduction in 2015.

The head of UK100 – a network of local authority leaders with ambitious decarbonisation goals – has subsequently written to Michael Gove to urge the housing and communities secretary to “seize the economic opportunities that the transition to net zero presents and build communities and infrastructure resilient to the worst impacts of climate change”.

In a follow-up letter, the group’s interim chief executive Jason Torrance made a series of recommendations to the minister, including that local authorities should be given planning powers or a regulatory code to “insist on certain types of technologies, and ban others”, in the new heat network zones being introduced as part of the Energy Security Bill.

He said local authorities should also be given powers to compel buildings and developments in these zones to connect to heat networks.

Furthermore, Torrance said the National Planning Policy Framework should be “formally bound” to the Climate Change Act to ensure decarbonisation targets are a foundation of local planning. He said local authorities should be given the ability to prioritise the targets in planning policy.

He said the government should additionally introduce a national framework for local area energy planning to “give more power and a greater role to local and regional authorities to develop a balanced energy system”.

Lastly, Torrance said UK100 has serious concerns over the proposed National Development Management Policies, which were also consulted on alongside the National Planning Policy Framework.

The National Development Management Policies are intended to save planners from repeating nationally important policies in their own plans so they are quicker to produce and can focus on locally relevant policies. Torrance said they must not “weaken, override or remove powers provided to local authorities”.

The proposed reforms to the National Planning Policy Framework include arrangements to enable the repowering of old wind farms that are coming to end of their life with bigger, more modern turbines.

Last week, Ofgem issued a consultation on proposals to create a series of Regional System Planners to coordinate the development of local energy plans alongside network operators and councils.