Select committee: Energy Security and Net Zero Committee
Conclusion 27
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 ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
We welcome a more strategic approach to energy infrastructure planning that integrates the pursuit of climate and biodiversity goals and enables the early consideration of nature protection on a habitat-wide basis. We are encouraged to see this ambition reflected in the Government’s Clean Power 2030 Action Plan, the Strategic Spatial Energy Plan (SSEP) Methodology, the Land Use Framework (LUF) and the National Energy System Operator (NESO)’s high-level methodology principles for the Centralised Strategic Network Plan (CSNP). We recognise that these plans are still in development. However, the decision to subject the SSEP and the CSNP to detailed environmental assessments strengthens our conclusion that, if they realise this ambition, these strategic plans should be given weight in the determination of applications for development consent. (Conclusion, Paragraph 77)
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.