Project LEO Workshop one – Enabling and facilitating smart energy systems within the existing planning system

The Centre for Sustainable Energy was commissioned by Project LEO to run two workshops for Oxfordshire planners with the intention of stimulating greater understanding of Smart Local Energy Systems (SLES) by the local planning community and gathering recommendations on how the statutory planning system can integrate and facilitate both locally and nationally.

Specific objectives were:

• To raise awareness of Project LEO amongst the local planning community in Oxfordshire.
• To inform local planners of what a Smart Local Energy System could look like and to review the potential social, economic and environmental benefits of Smart Local Energy Systems.
• To ask planners to consider barriers and opportunities for implementing SLES within the existing planning system.
• To allow the planners to make connections between SLES and the array of local policies, plans and priorities including, particularly, targets for net zero, climate emergency resolutions and the delivery of respective local plans.
• To inform the design of engagement with this group for the remainder of the project, developing understanding of the needs and priorities of planners and the data and tools that would be helpful in their work.
• To inform planners of current approaches and frameworks for planning for SLES including Local Area Energy Planning, the use of energy related digital tools and maps in the planning process and stakeholder consultation/engagement and any other relevant guidance. Specifically this will include capturing feedback on the land use and energy mapping tool being developed by Project LEO.

This is a record of the first Zoom workshop, run on 24 May 2021, concentrating on how Smart Local Energy Systems could be enabled through the existing planning system. The second workshop will look at how smart local energy systems can be enabled through the reformed planning system, once the nature of these reforms becomes clearer.