Agenda item

To consider a report to the Future Oxfordshire Partnership and outline business case proposing an increase in the allocation of the Housing and Growth Deal Capacity Fund for the support of Local Area Energy Planning in Oxfordshire.

Exempt information under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972

The Future Oxfordshire Partnership gives notice that it may decide by passing the necessary motion to hold all or part of the discussion of this item in private on the grounds that there would likely be disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 3 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 as amended and the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest on disclosing the information.

The Panel considered a report to the Future Oxfordshire Partnership, (FOP) which referenced the final version of the Oxfordshire Local Area Energy Plan, (OxLAEP) Programme Scope and which presented the OxLAEP Outline Business Case, (OBC). Mark Saunders, Energy Systems and Investment Manager, Oxfordshire County Council introduced the report and gave a presentation summarising key points.

It was noted that the FOP was being asked to consider four possible options with Option Four as detailed on agenda page 56 the recommended decision. This was for full development of the OxLAEP programme and ongoing LAEP function including the suggested mitigations related to district council resource requirements and approval by the FOP of an addition £450,000 of funding in addition to the £150,000 previously approved.

A summary of the detailed comments and suggestions made by the Panel is presented below:

•        There was a role for coordination and roll out of local area energy planning at a national level through National Grid, particularly so in light of the expected increase in local sources of local generation. This would allow for costs to be recovered via the costs of energy whereas OxLAEP proposals required a commitment of £600,000 plus what was felt to be an ongoing heavy cost without a clear mechanism for recovery of that cost. Doubt was expressed that HM Government would fund local area energy planning on an ongoing basis.

•        There was a need to know the amount of nationally generated energy via offshore wind and nuclear power coming into the Oxfordshire grid and to plan ahead to 2050 taking into account all the expected changes in generation away from fossil fuels, adaption and other detailed considerations including changes in energy use and demand.

•        Retrofit of existing homes would be required and the timing of decisions by individual householders was crucial to energy planning, but local authorities had few levers to influence retrofit.

•        Some concern was expressed regarding the costs of consultancy, and it was felt that this could have been implemented sooner in the development of project building up in-house skills for the future, if it had been set up in stages.

•        It was important for the benefits of energy generation to come back to local communities if their support for local energy infrastructure was to be secured.

•        The move to generation closer to the point of use was to be welcomed and it was suggested that this should be via roof top solar with battery storage on existing buildings such as car parks rather than solar farms.

•        The inclusion of natural gas was queried, but it was noted that gas would be part of the energy mix for some time because of heating needs.

•        Notwithstanding the mitigation measures set out in the report which were welcomed, several members felt these did not completely allay their concerns regarding funding and the impact of supporting OxLAEP on district officer capacity.

•        Concern was expressed that there could be an impact on Local Plan progress resulting from the development of OxLAEP.

•        Funding – what budget was the proposed £600,000 coming from?

In response to these points and questions, it was confirmed by Andrew Down that the proposed spend would if approved, come from the residual amount of the Housing and Growth Deal Net Capacity fund that was held by the County Council as the accountable body and which the FOP itself had authority to take decisions on how to use. The cost to districts in supporting the OxLAEP process would be support in kind subject to the mitigations in the report.

Appropriate legal advice had been sought from the Monitoring Officer of South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse District Councils and they had indicated the OxLAEP should not interfere with Local Plan processes.

In response to other points raised, Mark Saunders commented that a Regional Electricity System Planner had been set up. This was a new function set up by HM Government to look at regional electricity strategy, but it would not be producing plans for localities. Work undertaken within Oxfordshire would contribute to the decisions of this body around network investment. National Grid would retain statutory responsibility for energy transmission. Opportunity remained for Oxfordshire as a system to shape local provision and LAEPs would need to be reviewed on a regular basis. The LAEP set out what steps and projects were needed but they would not identify who would do them.

Each LAEP would lead to the drawing up of a list of required projects that would be required to get to the County’s decarbonisation objectives, taking account of economic objectives and other factors.

The decision had been taken to seek to proceed with all the LAEPs within the county at the same time with the help of consultants rather than follow an incremental approach utilising in house expertise because of the need to gain a strategic overview of the whole county.

It was noted that it would be likely that coming out of the LAEP process there would be an increase in community led projects where any returns could be returned to those communities, but this could not be stipulated within the LAEP, and it depend on the individual project.

Finally, it was stressed that a collaborative process involving both district council and county council officers, representatives of the Distribution Network Operators, and OxLEP had been followed in the development of the LAEP and the Outline Business Case. The proposed stage gates and mitigations within the proposals had been designed to allow for districts to have comfort about resource requirements and move at a different pace if they wished to.

The Chair referred to the potential impact of the expected revisions to the National Planning Policy Framework and the potential implications of that on both Local Plans and LAEP.

After further discussion, Officers were thanked for a comprehensive and helpful report.

RESOLVED: That subject to the following comments, the Future Oxfordshire Partnership be recommended by the Panel to approve Option Four of the OxLAEP Outline Business Case:

1.     Funding and district council resources: -The Panel had significant concerns regarding officer capacity at a district level to support the LAEP process. The Panel was pleased and reassured to note options to mitigate this had been built into the proposals as set out in para 16 of the covering report, including the intended go/no go stage gates after at Phase 1 and Phase 2 of the procurement process and support from Oxfordshire County Council with clienting duties.  The Panel regards these mitigations and the flexibility of districts to proceed at different speeds as of high importance.

2.     Impact of OxLAEP process on individual district Local Plans: The Panel had serious concerns that the LAEP process could delay Local Plan adoption timelines, but noted the response from officers that the proposals should not interfere with the Local Plan process.

3.     Use of consultants and building of ‘in house’ LAEP expertise – the Panel noted that there was a need in the short term to procure consultants to assist the LAEP development but was strongly of the view that in the longer-term in-house expertise needed to be developed on cost and resilience grounds.

4.     That in seeking to encourage the delivery of more local energy generation capacity within Oxfordshire, everything possible be done to ensure that any profits from projects come back to the local communities.