Recommendation 17

HM Government Deferred

18. The complex judgments involved in evaluating different options for electricity network infrastructure not only raise a strong argument for settling these strategic considerations at an earlier stage, but also heighten the need for affected communities to be involved in those decisions. NESO’s CSNP process will be transparent and inclusive allowing for stakeholder engagement, and it will include opportunities for stakeholders to submit electricity network proposals. It will assess community impacts as part of its analysis and be subject to public consultation. It will also interact with the Regional Energy Strategic Plans to account for local community needs in national planning. The Planning and Infrastructure Bill includes an amendment to the NSIP regime to how applicants engage with statutory bodies, landowners and communities. This tabled amendment will remove the statutory requirement to consult as part of the pre-application stage for NSIP applications, bringing requirements in line with all other planning regimes. It seeks to focus on the outcome of delivering well-developed applications supported by a more meaningful approach to engagement, rather than focusing on the operation of statutory processes and requirements; and increase flexibility for applicants and those they engage to calibrate their work on an application based on its unique requirements, as opposed to a one size fits all approach. To support this change, the government intend to publish statutory guidance setting out strong expectations that developers undertake consultation and engagement prior to submitting an application. Oral evidence on timelines and community engagement strategies 19. Julian Leslie told us that NESO has “built in a 10-month engagement and consultation process on the final SSEP”. If that is the case, public consultation would continue until at least January 2027. Yet NESO is due to publish the final SSEP by the end of 2026. It would be regrettable if this timeline meant that public engagement activities taking place towards the end of the consultation period have less, or even no, impact on the final outcome. NESO is undertaking extensive engagement on the SSEP which is already underway, ahead of the public consultation which will be published in 2026. NESO is conducting societal engagement through various means including focus groups and questionnaires. 20. The Strategic Spatial Energy Plan (SSEP), the Centralised Strategic Network Plan (CSNP) and the Land Use Framework (LUF) are valuable opportunities to build greater public understanding of the need for energy infrastructure and the trade-offs involved in choosing between different options and locations, at an early stage of the development process. NESO has published their methodology for the SSEP3 and will run a public consultation on the draft SSEP in 2026, to invite greater public understanding. The CSNP will have a transparent process enabling members of the public and other stakeholders to understand the reasons for NESO’s recommended and discounted options. As noted below, NESO will engage with local communities via the CSNP process. More information will be available in the CSNP methodology. 21. We welcome the National Energy System Operator (NESO)’s ambition for meaningful and comprehensive engagement with diverse communities, economic interests and societal groups throughout the development of the SSEP and the CSNP. At the very least, we expect the use of surveys, focus groups, roundtables, stakeholder meetings, events and webinars to engage with people directly. It is imperative that public consultation over these plans includes targeted engagement with communities who will see large volumes of infrastructure, clusters of projects, or energy infrastructure in their locality for this first time, as set out in the SSEP methodology. Engagement with these communities should raise awareness of the infrastructure which they are likely to see in the years to come. As part of SSEP development, NESO is extensively engaging with a range of stakeholders and communities through societal forums. More information can be found in the SSEP methodology. NESO will engage with relevant communities as part of the CSNP process and NESO will provide support for third parties to submit options for appraisal. The methodologies, CSNP and SEA have been, or will be, subject to public consultation. More information will be available in the CSNP methodology which will be published early 2026. 22. At this early stage, we have yet to see sufficient evidence of NESO’s ambitions for societal engagement and public consultation being put into practice in the development of the SSEP and the CSNP. In the autumn, we expect to hear further details of: (i) NESO’s consultation strategy; and (ii) how the societal forums and stakeholder working groups have been contributing to the development of these plans. For the SSEP, details of societal engagement and the findings will be included w