Regional energy strategic planning as the turning point: Empowering place-based leadership for a whole-system future

Regional Energy Strategic Planning (RESP) marks one of the most significant shifts in how Great Britain plans and governs its energy future. For the first time, national, regional, and local planning are being brought together in a way that recognises the essential value of place-based leadership — the democratic mandate, local insight, and on the ground delivery expertise that only local government brings. 

This is not just a new planning process; it is a transformational opportunity. RESP has the potential to give every region a clear, long-term energy vision built on local priorities, informed by communities, and aligned with national goals for decarbonisation, growth, and resilience. It offers a route to ensure investment goes where it’s needed, infrastructure arrives ahead of demand, and people and places are at the centre of the transition. 

As local authorities, we understand our places, we engage our communities, and we see first hand where energy needs are changing. If RESP fulfils its potential, it can unlock a new era of integrated planning, where local, regional, and national priorities no longer compete but reinforce one another. 

There is real optimism and ambition in this vision — and rightly so. But for RESP to truly succeed, the system around it must empower the very partners who make place-based delivery possible. That means clarity of roles, investment in capacity, transparent methodologies, and governance that reflects the realities of how places function. 

My reflections 

We have already engaged deeply with this agenda at Oxfordshire County Council, submitting a detailed and carefully considered response to the RESP methodology consultation. Our submission drew on extensive local evidence, system insight, and practical delivery experience across Oxfordshire.

Below we summarise several of the council’s key reflections — the themes that we believe are most critical to getting RESP right for places, for communities, and for the wider energy system. 

1. Resourcing and governance: Giving places the tools and influence they need 

Local authorities want to engage meaningfully in RESP, but many do not have the sustained capacity needed to participate on equal terms. The work involved — gathering evidence, coordinating local partners, interrogating modelling, and contributing to technical and governance processes — is significant. Without targeted support, capacity will vary significantly across the country — undermining the consistency RESP depends on. When addressed early, however, capacity becomes one of RESP’s greatest enablers, ensuring every area can contribute its insight and experience. 

A crucial part of effective governance sits outside NESO’s architecture: councils need a clear and locally defined way to organise themselves regionally. The six local authority representatives on each strategic board will only be effective if they are supported by coherent regional structures through which councils can agree priorities, coordinate positions and speak with one voice. Some regions can build on existing partnerships; others may need new arrangements. What matters is that coordination is locally shaped and in place from the start. 

Governance within RESP must also reflect how decisions are actually made in places. Councils have statutory responsibilities and deep practical understanding of how energy systems are delivered on the ground. Local authorities need to be involved from the beginning and not “plug in” to boards once they exist; they need to help shape the process from its early stages. When governance mirrors real world delivery and recognises the central role of local government, RESP can evolve from a technically robust process into a genuinely collaborative planning system that is grounded in place-based realities. 

2. Integrating local evidence: Aligning RESP with the plans that already shape places 

RESP has the potential to bring planning and investment into a more coherent, future-focused framework. To reach that potential, the methodology must connect clearly with the plans and strategies that already guide decision making in places — local plans, spatial development strategies, local area energy plans, heat zoning, transport planning and industrial cluster data. Local authorities hold the most accurate, current insight into future demand and local priorities. Strengthening this interface ensures regional strategies reflect the full picture — not just today’s network constraints. 

This integration is what enables RESP to become a truly strategic framework — one that joins up national modelling with grounded local evidence and avoids becoming just another technical layer in an already crowded planning landscape. 

3. Transparency and trust: Making modelling accessible to local decision makers 

RESP’s modelling has significant potential to strengthen long-term system planning, but only if local authorities can clearly understand what the modelling is designed to show. Councils need clarity of purpose: what the pathways optimise for, how assumptions are made, and how trade-offs are considered. Without transparency, councils cannot bring evidence in at the right moment or understand how modelling should inform local decision making. 

Plain language explanations of the modelling approach would make RESP more accessible, build confidence in its outputs and enable councils to challenge constructively, align their data, and bring local insight into the process in a timely way. This transparency is essential for building trust and ensuring RESP’s technical foundations genuinely support local engagement. 

What needs to happen next?

For RESP to deliver on its potential, a small number of targeted, practical steps would make the biggest difference. 

1. A statutory footing for local and regional energy planning 
Clear duties would give councils the mandate, confidence and certainty they need to engage fully in RESP, while ensuring that local plans, spatial strategies and place-based priorities are properly embedded in the process. 

2. Long-term, ring-fenced funding for local authority capacity 
Sustained investment would enable all areas — not just the well-resourced ones — to participate on equal terms and build the capability required for ongoing, strategic planning. 

3. A coherent interface between LAEPs, zoning and RESP 
Joining these processes up will reduce duplication, make the system easier to navigate, and ensure local evidence feeds smoothly into the regional plan. 

4. Transparent, accessible methodologies 
Plain language explanations of modelling, assumptions and decision making will help councils understand how RESP is constructed and bring their local insight into the process at the right moment. 

5. A realistic timeline that reflects the starting point for local government 
RESP must recognise that councils are at different stages of capability and preparation. Allowing time for coordination, upskilling and collaboration will make the process more consistent and more effective. 

This Is a moment of leadership for local authorities 

Local authorities bring democratic legitimacy, spatial insight, community understanding, planning expertise, and delivery capability. RESP will only work if these strengths are fully recognised and structurally embedded.  If Great Britain wants energy infrastructure that arrives where and when communities need it, RESP must be built around the capabilities, statutory roles, and long‑term presence of local government.