CEN Campaign: Powering Britain by Empowering Communities

The UK needs more energy - a lot more. This isn’t going to change anytime soon, with demand for electricity increasing by 50% by 2036 compared to 2022. 

Elinor Bale | Climate Programme Manager

We can’t just rely on importing gas. This will leave us vulnerable to volatile gas markets and reliant on hostile petrostates like Russia. If we are to keep Britain moving, we need to build energy here, in the UK. 

That means building wind farms and solar farms to generate power and pylons to get it where we need it most. This will bring energy security, affordable bills and economic growth as we make and generate energy here. 

However, we cannot get ahead of ourselves and need to be aware of the risks of building a significant amount of new infrastructure. If we build too hard, too fast and ignore communities' concerns, we could potentially alienate voters and a shift in opinion against decarbonisation, leave the UK in a significant energy deficit and even further reliant on petrostates.

That is why CEN has launched a new campaign, ‘Powering Britain. Empowering Communities’. This campaign calls for new energy infrastructure - be it pylons, solar farms or wind farms - to directly benefit local communities and mitigate their concerns, including: bill discount schemes, community benefit funds, and for 100% of business rates to go to the local authority to give communities the compensation they deserve. 

CEN recognises that the government must walk a difficult tight rope. We need to build new energy infrastructure but also listen to communities' concerns. This campaign will hold the government to account, ensure it is committed to this dual mission, and is listening to local communities.

This campaign is even more important considering Labour has, from the get-go, made clear it doesn’t care about the risks. Instead of actually working to understand their concerns, the Labour government has recklessly adopted an arbitrary 2030 clean power target. Due to this target  government has to build harder and faster, exacerbating the threat of alienating local communities to decarbonisation and bulldozing local communities' concerns. 

An obvious example is Ed Miliband approving three solar farms classed as National Significant Infrastructure Projects just days into office. 

The government cannot continue with this bullish approach that will only anger communities and alienate support for the energy transition.

That is why CEN’s ‘Powering Britain. Empowering Communities’ campaign will fight to ensure communities see direct benefits from the new infrastructure, and stop support for the energy transition evaporating. 

CEN will ensure this in three ways.

Ask 1: Extend the proposed energy bill discount scheme to generation (solar and wind farms)

As things stand, the government has proposed an energy discount scheme, £250 off energy bills per year, for households living near energy transmission infrastructure. This is a welcome first step to give communities direct local benefits. However, the government has chosen not to include households living near generation infrastructure. The bill must be amended to ensure communities hosting solar farms and wind farms also receive an energy bill discount. 

Ask 2: Require developers and operators to establish a community benefit fund

Community benefit funds provide direct benefits and funding for local communities, not just money off energy bills. They can take many forms such as: money for a community project or money for solar panels on homes, schools and community buildings. Many developers already provide community benefits funds, as it is considered common practice in the industry and shows a generation company is willing to work in good faith with communities. 

Making it a requirement will only impact a few developers who are not already doing so and are failing to address the community's concerns. 

There is also a significant benefit for developers. Community benefit funds can help improve developers’ relationships with local communities, reducing opposition to applications. 

Ask 3: 100% of business rates from generation and transmission infrastructure should go to funding local councils

Currently, business rate payments just go straight to a big pot in Whitehall, and the local authorities hosting the infrastructure do not directly benefit. Councils across the country are seeing their budgets squeezed, slashing services, and in some cases raising council tax. By redirecting business rates to local authorities from these projects, it can help ease the financial strains they face. This will ultimately benefit local residents, but also give local councils an incentive to stand and defend these projects to their residents. 

The energy transition is happening. But for the sake of our nation's security, tackling energy bills, and stimulating economic growth, we need more energy and solar and wind farms should be a part of this. 

However, the government must ensure local communities' concerns are addressed. If the government fails to bring communities along with them energy projects will stall, and we will be left reliant on petrostates and at the mercy of volatile gas markets. That is why CEN will be there, Powering Britain, Empowering Communities, to ensure a more affordable, secure, and prosperous Britain.

Learn more about our Powering Britain, Empowering Communities campaign here.

If you are a CEN supporter, councillor, or parliamentarian and would like to write for the CEN blog, please email your idea to info@cen.uk.com.