Select committee: Energy Security and Net Zero Committee
Recommendation 11
2nd Report - Gridlock or growth? Avoiding energy planning chaos
Published 7 Jul 2025
Addressed to Department for Energy Security and Net Zero
Energy Security and Net Zero Committee National planning for energy infrastructure All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
The National Policy Statements should give significant weight to the availability of a grid connection, as a paramount consideration in determining where electricity generation projects can be located. However, by the same token, where a project has not yet secured a grid connection, the prospects of doing so should also be a material consideration weighing for or against the grant of development consent. NESO may need to provide the Secretary of State with information to ensure that this question is considered accurately, fairly and efficiently within the development consent process. • The Government should strengthen the existing guidance in the National Policy Statements to clarify that the Secretary of State should give significant weight to the availability of a grid connection. • The National Policy Statements should clarify how the Secretary of State should assess the future prospects of a project obtaining a grid connection, with reference to NESO’s recent reforms to this process. 52 • The Government and NESO should assess whether, and in what circumstances, NESO may need to provide the Secretary of State with information about the prospects of a project obtaining a grid connection and how far it is aligned with strategic plans. (Recommendation, Paragraph 34)
From: Energy Security and Net Zero Committee, 2nd Report - Gridlock or growth? Avoiding energy planning chaos (HC 868), 7 July 2025
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 19 November 2025 (deadline 7 September 2025).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government's response says it will provide sufficient time for committee scrutiny of future NPS updates, but it "cannot commit" to a minimum review period, and it sets out amendments and positions on the Committee's wider recommendations.
- On scrutiny timing, the government "notes" the Committee's concerns and says it will "ensure early liaison with Committee" in future NPS reviews, but cannot commit to a minimum review period.
- On Critical National Priority infrastructure, it has amended EN-1, replacing "material reduction" with "significant reduction" and adding that exceptional circumstances may "warrant a small reduction in generation capacity and function".
- On the Centralised Strategic Network Plan, it agrees to remove the term "strategic solution" but will maintain "indicative routes" and "strategic parameters".
- On distribution infrastructure, it has consulted on removing 132kV wooden poles from the NSIP regime and "will respond in due course"; any threshold change would need secondary legislation.