Member

Finally, I turn to Amendment 177, tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Ravensdale, and my noble friend Lord Hunt of Kings Heath. It seeks to require government to develop and publish guidance on local area energy planning for use by local authorities. Many local authorities say that they are using local area energy plans to plan for an investment in energy and support the transition of local communities to net zero. However, as previously said, this is not the right time for government to produce national guidance for local area energy plans or require that local authorities have regard to such advice at a time when the approach to energy planning is still being developed. We would need to consider how local area energy planning might fit with the products of a range of regional and national plans, such as the warm homes plan, heat network zoning, Great British Energy’s local work and NESO’s regional energy strategic plans. It is not yet clear what role local area energy planning will play within these wider strategic plans. It is not the right time to publish guidance that may well be superseded.