Policy documents and consultations that may be of interest to community energy groups or that CEE is considering making a response to are included below (listed in date order of responses required). Draft responses will be added to this page for member comments along with our final submissions. If you would like to input into any of our responses, please email us.
You can view and download our previous consultation responses here.
Onshore wind consultation quick link.
Latest Consultation Opportunities
Enabling sustainable electrification of the UK economy
Deadline Thursday 1 June
The Environmental Audit Committee is holding this equiry into the challenges and opportunities arising from the increasing use of electricity to power the economy of Net Zero Britain and is keen to hear about issues with grid connection among other things.
Community Benefits for Electricity Transmission Network Infrastructure Consultation
Deadline has been extended to 23.45 on 15 June 2023
The government is consulting on a recommended approach to community benefits for electricity transmission network infrastructure.
The consultation is proposing to create voluntary guidance for industry and communities when developing individual community benefit packages. This guidance will cover how to deliver direct benefits payments to eligible individuals and wider community benefits. We also recommend establishing a recommended level of funding for community benefits in agreement with Ofgem.
In this consultation we are seeking to gain the perspectives and views of different stakeholders to establish an approach that is both fair and effective. This includes stakeholders who could be involved in:
- developing and delivering communities benefits
- communities who could receive community benefits
Read the consultation document on GOV.UK.
We want to ensure that the proposals are developed with the input of all interested stakeholders. We therefore have a number of ways in which stakeholders can be involved.
Our draft response with the 16 questions is here, as yet un-populated. Please read the consultation document and comment/add text there.
Consultation on Planning for new energy infrastructure: revisions to National Policy Statements
Deadline extended to Friday 23 June
The energy National Policy Statements (NPS) set out the government’s policy for the delivery of energy infrastructure and provide the legal framework for planning decisions. They were first designated and published in 2011.
A review of the NPS was announced in the 2020 Energy white paper: Powering our net zero future. This review was to ensure the NPSs were brought up to date to reflect the policies set out in the white paper.
We held a public consultation on the revised NPSs EN1 to EN5 in 2021, and have published a government response.
Covering renewables, carbon capture and hydrogen, oil and gas pipelines and electricity networks, the updates are aimed to speed up the planning process so that low-carbon generation can be brought forward at the right time and in the right places, whilst protecting and enhancing the environment on land and sea and ensuring local views are taken into account.
This consultation is more focused and seeks views on:
- clarifying that offshore wind is now a critical national priority, including the related onshore and offshore network infrastructure
- to deliver the 50GW of offshore wind including 5GW of floating wind, we need to cut the process time by over half. The government therefore announced it was introducing the offshore wind environmental improvement package to help accelerate deployment of offshore wind, whilst protecting and enhancing the marine environment
- strengthening the electricity networks NPS to include more detail on the role of strategic planning of networks, which considers the network as a whole, rather than just individual transmission projects
- updating the civil and military aviation and defence interests to reflect the status of energy developments, including offshore wind, and how impacts to civil and military aviation, meteorological radars and other types of defence interests should be managed
The emboldened text relates to areas member may want to express views on.
CEE will consider responding to this consultation. If you have views you want us to represent please email d.law@communityenergyengland.org
Developing local partnerships for onshore wind in England consultation
Deadline 11:45pm on 7 July 2023
The government is consulting on providing more benefits to local residents, including potentially lower bills, from onshore wind developments. It is also proposing best practice principles of engagement, currently published by the government, are embedded into planning guidance for local authorities and developers to ensure the views of the community are heard and addressed.
This consultation is seeking views on:
- improving the way developers and communities engage when an onshore wind site is proposed in a local area
- whether improvements can be made to the system of community benefits, so that communities directly benefit from cheap, clean, secure power
"The government recognises the range of views on onshore wind. Decisions on onshore wind are best made by local representatives who know their areas best and underpinned by democratic accountability. To deliver this, and our commitments in the British Energy Security Strategy, we are consulting on a more localist approach that provides local authorities more flexibility to respond to the views of their local communities."
This long promised consultation does not go further to open up wind which as our response to the consultation early this year shows can still easily be prevented by 'local representatives' who want to thwart it. Actually the population, including Conservatives, is overwhelmingly supportive. But nimbies remain, often in elected positions. It also seems still to be quite paternalistic with developers 'providing benefits' out of their profits. Communities should be empowered to develop their own onshore wind where they can. Scottish community wind delivers 34 times more community benefit than commercial projects. We want that benefit for our communities.
Please seriously consider responding to this consultation. We need lots of community voices.
You are encouraged to add comments and text to our draft response (as yet unstarted). Or you can email d.law@communityenergyengland.org.
Consultation page and link to documents are here. It is a short consultation of only 13 questions. They encourage response by online survey
Strategy and Policy Statement for energy policy in Great Britain (official guidance to Ofgem).
Deadline 11:45pm on 2 August 2023
The Strategy and Policy Statement is developed in accordance with the Energy Act 2013 and sets out the government’s strategic priorities and other main considerations of its energy policy; the policy outcomes to be achieved as a result of the implementation of that policy; and the roles and responsibilities of those who are involved in implementation of that policy.
Ofgem (the independent energy regulator in Great Britain), and the Future System Operator, once established, will be required to have regard to the strategic priorities in the Strategy and Policy Statement when carrying out their functions. They must also carry out their respective regulatory functions in the manner which the Secretary of State or the Authority (as the case may be) considers is best calculated to further the delivery of the policy outcomes.
CEE has been urging the government to include 'maximising social benefit from the energy transformation' (and/or enabling community energy) in the official remit alongside 'net zero'. The Energy Bill as amended in the Lords would put this latter duty in legislation. We have met both Ofgem's CEO and the BEIS team responsible. Social benefit is not in the consultation, so we should propose it be added. The Future Systems Operator "should include early consideration of the deliverability, economic cost and environmental and social impacts." It is not clear whether these include positive social impacts which should be promoted.