



Our members know better than most that councils can spend millions on technical feasibility studies in preparation for new policies or projects, for the project to fall down at the last hurdle. There are a myriad of reasons for this; a lack of cross-party or departmental support for the measure, misinformation taking root locally to undermine policies; or a lack of community engagement with the residents the project aims to support. This is local politics. Otherwise known as non-technical barriers, these barriers can impede progress on local climate ambitions.
That’s why UK100 developed its Local Power in Action Programme, to both directly support members in overcoming non-technical barriers to local climate action, and to share best practice with the wider network. So far, this has included our political toolkit on the Workplace Parking Levy, and a video highlighting county wide action on sustainable transport.
You can find out more about how the programme works here, but with the second iteration now complete, this blog highlights the lessons and outputs we hope will inspire members as they deliver their own climate ambitions.
Our council partners and their projects
After an application process, our 23/24 LPIA programme focused on partnerships with Calderdale Council and Somerset Council.
Calderdale Council
Goal: Recognising the limits of their reach and action, Calderdale Council set-out to develop the UK’s first Influencing Strategy. Building on their Climate Action Plan, this new strategy would highlight who else it needs to influence local, regional and national change, and to prioritise areas of focus.
Results: With the support of pathfinder Kate Chappell, Calderdale Council, successfully developed its influencing strategy. Through a series of workshops with the Calderdale Climate Action Partnership, they were able to refine and seek support for 3 key advocacy ‘asks’ to take to regional and national governments. With UK100's support, Calderdale subsequently put their new strategy into action by delivering a showcase advocacy event in November 2024, with a range of key business and political stakeholders in attendance, including the Mayor of West Yorkshire, Tracy Brabin.
Outputs: Recognising the power of the influencing strategy, UK100 developed this political toolkit which you can use to create their own influencing strategy, based on Calderdale's experience.
Somerset Council
Goal: Having developed an Energy Investment Plan in 2023, Somerset Council identified that there were a number of barriers to the delivery of this plan. Key barriers to delivery were identified included: planning committee capacity and capability to deal with rising numbers of renewable energy related planning applications and objections; grid constraints; and financing. Hence Somerset Council was keen to build preparedness for the rapid shift towards a low carbon energy system.
Results: Due to the breadth of this work, there were a host of results from this project, including:
- The creation of an energy factsheet, that was produced over a series of workshop sessions involving planning committee members. This includes evidence based responses to around 100 frequently asked local objections. This has boosted the council’s capacity to deal with the increasing number of renewables related applications and objections in support of their Energy Investment Plan. The resulting factsheet has been adapted for other members, and a case study explains the process in greater detail.
- Somerset Council worked with South West Councils to secure a change to proposed Regional Energy System Plan (RESP) boundaries, ensuring the most appropriate regional RESP boundaries across the south-west and suitable governance arrangements. Given the significant role that RESPs will play in enabling a strategic regional approach to building up future grid capacity this work has been vital.
Outputs: You can read more about how Somerset council engaged its members in the development of their energy fact sheet in this case study, and find the fact sheet itself here. Find out more about RESPs and what they mean for you here too, based on Somerset's work and learning.
Lessons learnt
Over the duration of the programme LPIA has presented many useful lessons about how we can collectively accelerate climate action. Key lessons learnt include:
- It pays to invest in your climate team. All councils have varying ability to resource a climate team, and this is exacerbated by the absence of a statutory climate duty. For those who have done all they can to build up capacity regardless, such as Calderdale council, they are reaping the rewards, through winning more bids and thereby securing more funding to reinvest in the function and on delivering climate action.
- Internal climate governance is imperative. While investing in a climate team is important, embedding climate across all roles is even more imperative to driving council wide support for change. Councils which adopt an organisation wide approach will be best prepared to respond to opportunities in a cohesive way. For example, stock holding council should consider opportunities to embed retrofit for net zero into the housing teams normal repairs and maintenance schedule.
- Local authorities do have the capacity to influence national and regional policy. As demonstrated through Calderdale’s influencing strategy and Somerset’s work on RESPs, councils can influence policymaking. However local government needs to be supported and encouraged to engage more in important discussions such as the RESP consultation, something UK100 aims to make easier through our programme of activities and events.
- Non-technical barriers require equal consideration to technical barriers. While technical challenges will always exist, projects regularly fall down where non-technical barriers such as local political support and community buy-in have not been secured. To ensure the successful delivery of different interventions, project planning must create space to consider these challenges. Community energy initiatives present a great way to boost local support for energy infrastructure.
- We must embrace a more strategic approach to land use planning, including planning for energy infrastructure. With regional planning making a comeback we must embrace the opportunities it presents to think strategically about issues including nature, local growth, energy and housing.
Next steps
You can find out more about the impact of the LPIA programme, and UK100’s broader support programme here. Both Calderdale and Somerset were unequivocal in underlining its importance to driving forward local progress with Cllr Dixie Darch describing LPIA as ‘Very enabling’ and Calderdale’s Director of Public Health and Climate describing it as a ‘game changer’ for Calderdale Council.
With 2030 targets now just 5 years away, we are at a pivotal net-zero crossroad. Across the network we are seeing members step up their decarbonisation efforts, and we believe the Local Power in Action programme can do even more to support these. That’s why we’re taking stock of the lessons learnt, and identifying ways this programme can enable even more of our members to reap the benefits. Watch this space.