The Best Laid Plans: How RESP can allow local governments to focus on what matters

Delivering local energy plans

The Net Zero Living Programme has proved that when local authorities take a more structured approach to their planning around the energy transition, it always adds value to people’s lives and the places they live. Local energy plans help articulate the scale of opportunity, help stakeholders understand the benefits, help convene actors together, and help establish effective and efficient processes to get there. In short, it builds a common picture of what needs to happen and creates momentum for action.

But delivery on these plans remains slow and councils often face the same barriers when they try to move from analysis to projects that can be funded and built. The report highlights four main challenges they encounter:

• Plans do not always include the “last mile” work needed to shape clear projects.
• Local boundaries do not match how the energy system works, which makes coordination harder.
• Planning can sit in silos, separate from day-to-day council responsibilities like housing, planning and transport.
• Detailed modelling and engagement can take a lot of time and money, without making delivery easier.

Regional Energy Strategic Plans (RESP) could help tackle these challenges and improve outcomes. These plans are being developed by the National Energy System Operator (NESO) and offer a shared starting point for regions, reducing repeated modelling across different places and helping local authorities align their local plans with national pathways.

Equipped with this clear, shared baseline, RESP leaves councils freer to spend time on what turns plans into delivery. That includes building partnerships, setting up governance, deploying resources more effectively, developing funding approaches, and creating a pipeline of investable projects.

Case studies from the Net Zero Living Programme go on to show local authorities how RESP can be used alongside the Enable-Embed-Enact framework for planning. This guidance, combined with the single version of the truth that RESP provides, will help councils identify and deliver actions at greater pace, and, importantly, in the context of their team and their community.

Key findings

• Using RESP as a standardised starting point can reduce duplicated work, leaving councils more time to spend on delivery areas like funding, skills, and internal capacity.
• Plans are more likely to be actioned when they link into day-to-day council duties, network company investment plans, and local community insights.
• As RESP evolves, continued transparency with partners and residents around data, methods, and assumptions will be key to building trust in the plans, speeding up delivery, and driving uptake.