Planning matters blog

Why the tRESP Consultation Matters for the Future of Energy Investment

Ian York 20 Oct 2025

The Transitional Regional Energy Strategic Plan (tRESP) consultation, launched in September 2025, marks a pivotal moment in how Great Britain plans, invests in, and delivers the energy transition. For developers, operators and investors, and anyone involved in shaping places, this is not just another technical consultation — it is the foundation of a new way of coordinating infrastructure, aligning investment, and delivering the Government’s ambitious 2030 decarbonised grid and 2050 net zero targets.

The tRESP is not the final destination — it is a stepping stone towards full Regional Energy Strategic Plans (RESPs) from 2026. But it is a critical milestone: a unique opportunity for the planning and development sector to help ensure that the energy transition reflects local needs, supports growth, and is achievable on the ground.

In this blog, I’ll explain:

What the tRESP is and why it matters
The four key components of the plan
Opportunities for the sector
Potential challenges and watch-points
Why your engagement is essential before the consultation closes on 3 November 2025.

What is the tRESP?

At its heart, the tRESP is a national energy planning exercise with regional granularity. Led by the National Energy System Operator (NESO) under Ofgem’s direction, the plan provides the first coordinated framework to guide how the electricity distribution networks (and wider energy system) respond to the rapid growth of low-carbon technologies — from heat pumps and EVs to renewables and storage.

It will directly feed into the ED3 price control process (2028–2033) — the regulatory framework that sets out what investment Distribution Network Operators (DNOs) can make, and how those costs are recovered. In other words, the tRESP will influence where new capacity is built, when, and at what cost.

For energy developers and operators, the outcomes of the consultation could:

Shape the availability of grid capacity for housing, commercial development, and infrastructure projects.
Influence how regions balance growth and decarbonisation.
Provide new data, maps, and tools that can support local plan-making and infrastructure delivery.

The consultation is structured around four interlocking components:

Nations and Regions Contexts – baseline conditions and priorities for each of the 11 RESP areas.
Pathways – short and long-term projections for low-carbon technologies out to 2050.
Consistent Planning Assumptions (CPAs) – agreed national assumptions for DNOs to use in forecasting.
Strategic Investment Need (SI Need) – identifying where targeted network investment could unlock growth and accelerate decarbonisation.

1. Nations and Regions Contexts – A New Evidence Base

The tRESP provides initial reports for each nation and region, combining demographics, socio-economics, energy infrastructure, transport, heating, industry, economy, and targets. These are presented through geospatial maps, charts, and narratives on the NESO digital platform.

For energy developers and operators, this is significant:

It creates a consistent evidence base for energy planning, available at regional scale.
It highlights differences across places — recognising that the South West, Scotland, or the North East face distinct challenges.
It links energy infrastructure to broader socio-economic and planning considerations.

Watch point: Local nuance is still limited. For now, nationally validated datasets have been prioritised, with local datasets excluded to ensure consistency. That means local authority, developer, or community-level insights are not fully represented. The full RESP (from 2026) will integrate more place-based engagement — but only if stakeholders feed into this transitional stage.

2. Pathways – Mapping the Road to 2030 and 2050

The Pathways element models the scale and timing of low-carbon technology deployment.

A single short-term pathway to 2035 aligns with Ofgem’s requirements and reflects the Holistic Transition Future Energy Scenario (FES) – high renewables, high consumer engagement
From 2035, three long-term pathways to 2050 explore different futures: Holistic Transition, Electric Engagement, and Hydrogen Evolution.

For energy developers and operators, this provides early visibility of:

Where and when demand for electricity will grow (e.g. from heat pump uptake or EV charging).
How much renewable generation and storage is expected to come online in different regions.
The scale of infrastructure investment needed to deliver grid decarbonisation.

Watch point: These pathways are still being refined. Data shared with DNOs in July 2025 will be updated in November and December, with the final version due January 2026. While the consultation is based on a moving picture, feedback now will help ensure it reflects local and project-level realities.

3. Consistent Planning Assumptions (CPAs) – Getting the Numbers Right

Forecasting energy demand is notoriously complex. To ensure consistency across DNOs, the tRESP proposes common assumptions on key drivers of demand growth:

Electric vehicles (EVs)
Residential heat pumps
Appliance and lighting demand changes

The CPAs define not just the numbers but also the methodology for translating technology adoption into peak demand — the key driver of network reinforcement.

For energy developers and operators, CPAs matter because they underpin the scale of network upgrades that may or may not be delivered in each region. If assumptions are too optimistic (or pessimistic), the grid could be over- or under-prepared, with real-world consequences for housing delivery, economic growth, and decarbonisation targets.

Watch point: While consistency is welcome, there is a tension between national standardisation and local realities. For example, assumptions about EV adoption or heat pump uptake may not reflect local housing stock, affluence, or rurality. This is where local insight will be vital to ensure the assumptions reflect real-world development patterns.

4. Strategic Investment Need – Where Big Decisions Will Be Made

Perhaps the most directly relevant component is the identification of Strategic Investment Needs (SI Needs) — the areas where targeted investment could unlock growth and accelerate decarbonisation.

NESO has launched a GB-wide request for information (RFI) to capture emerging energy needs not already in the pathways. Over 1,700 submissions have already been received, with consultation maps showing clusters of potential needs.

SI Needs could include:

Anticipatory investment for major housing or employment growth areas.
Upgrades to enable industrial decarbonisation.
Reinforcement for cross-boundary or whole-system benefits.

For energy developers and operators, this is where local development priorities most directly intersect with the energy system.

Watch points:

Current outputs are interim and don’t yet include hydrogen infrastructure or motorway service areas
Inclusion of a need does not guarantee investment — it simply flags areas where coordination may be warranted.
Active engagement is crucial to ensure local growth priorities are visible and not overlooked in favour of more ‘obvious’ system-wide drivers.

5. Opportunities for the Sector

From an energy and infrastructure perspective, the tRESP is both a challenge and an opportunity:

Evidence for Local Plans – The Nations and Regions Contexts provide a new dataset to support local plan-making, infrastructure delivery plans, and climate action strategies.
Alignment of Energy and Spatial Planning – For the first time, regional energy scenarios are being tied explicitly to development and socio-economic trends.
Influence Over Strategic Investment – By engaging with the consultation, stakeholders can shape which growth areas are recognised as nationally significant.
Anticipatory Planning – Early visibility of pathways allows developers and operators to start considering how EV charging, heat pumps, and renewables will reshape demand for land, infrastructure, and buildings.

Key Watch-Points and Risks

While the tRESP is positive, stakeholders should approach it with a critical eye:

Local Data Gaps – Without strong local input, the risk is that national datasets underplay or misrepresent local realities.
Timing – The consultation closes on 3 November 2025, but final outputs aren’t due until January 2026. That leaves limited time for integration into live plan-making processes.
Uncertainty Beyond 2035 – With three diverging pathways, long-term clarity is limited. These should be seen as scenarios, not forecasts.
Delivery Risk – Identifying need is not the same as securing investment. Ofgem’s price control decisions will ultimately determine what is funded.
Integration with Other Reforms – The tRESP sits alongside the Clean Power 2030 Action Plan, planning reform, and wider infrastructure initiatives. The risk is policy overlap or misalignment.

Why Engagement is Essential

NESO has made clear that this consultation is both a test of approach and an invitation to collaborate. For energy developers, operators, and local authorities, this is a rare opportunity to shape national infrastructure priorities before they are locked in.

The consultation asks practical questions, including:

Do the Nations and Regions Contexts provide a clear and useful reflection of your area’s conditions?
Do the Pathways align with your local understanding of future demand and generation?
Are the Consistent Planning Assumptions (CPAs) appropriate for your region and sector?
Where should Strategic Investment be prioritised to unlock growth or accelerate decarbonisation?

Responses are due by 3 November 2025 via the NESO consultation portal.

Final Thoughts

The tRESP consultation may sound technical, but its implications are deeply practical. For energy developers and operators, it is about ensuring that the future energy system:

Unlocks, rather than constrains, growth
Reflects the realities of place
Delivers on net zero and resilience in a way that supports communities

The message is clear: if we want a system that works for our places, we need to engage now.

This is a chance to help create an energy system that is strategic, equitable, and place-based - and that delivers not just on 2050 net zero, but on the urgent 2030 decarbonised grid.

What do Scotland’s new towns tell us about 20-minute neighbourhoods? Glenrothes case study

Katherine Bannister 09 Oct 2025

This year, we asked our annual town planning interns in the Edinburgh office to consider what Scotland’s new towns could teach us about 20-minute neighbourhoods and planning for the future. This blog reviews Glenrothes and Patrick Dalziel reviewed Livingston.

Completing Lichfields’ Summer internship programme in the Edinburgh office allowed me to explore the evolution of the ‘new town’ of Glenrothes in terms of the theories of local living. 20-minute neighbourhoods are a pivotal aspect of recent planning policies in Scotland, despite the concept having floated around planning discussions for years. As part of my internship I looked into the 20-minute neighbourhoods that were built as part of the new town programme to discover how they have fared over the last 75 years and what we can learn for future development.

Introduction to 20-minute cities

As is known in the planning world, Ebenezer Howard’s Garden Cities transformed the approach to planning, striving towards a healthy, active town lifestyle by fulfilling the community's needs within its locality. This further evolved into the New Towns Act 1946, which Glenrothes is a result of. New towns had the same core principles of community wellbeing but enhanced strategic economic strategy on a large scale.

With momentum building towards 20-minute neighbourhoods within national planning policy, such as Policy 15 in NPF4, it is important to recognise that the realities of the concept are not dissimilar to the ambitions of Howard’s. NPF4 Policy 15: Local Living & 20-Minute Neighbourhoods aims to encourage, promote and facilitate place principles that create connected and compacted neighbourhoods where people can fulfil their daily needs within a reasonable distance from their home.

Introduction to Glenrothes

Glenrothes was to create a self-sustaining community focused on wellbeing, economy and environment. It was:

Designated in 1948
To provide social housing and community facilities to coal mining families inked with the East Fife Coalfield expansion and new technological industrial potential.
Intended to have population of 32,000 later revised to 45,000.
Designated to be 34% built environment, 66% greenspace.
To have a mixed population providing social housing for the community, with 1/8 residents to be miners working in the Fife Coalfield.

The neighbourhoods of Woodside and Auchmuty were to be established by 1950. Development past this was staggered until 1970, when a surge of development occurred and created the large and growing town of Glenrothes.

The settlement pattern accentuates the breakdown of neighbourhoods into segments that come together to make up Glenrothes. This raises the question of connectivity – located 25 miles from Dundee and 30 miles from Edinburgh, its connections to these cities are good via main roads like A92 and A90, but its internal connectivity (that is, between segments) is poor.

Today Glenrothes has a population of 37,468, with an ageing population expected to increase by 46% by 2026. Following the decline of the mining industry, the town faced job challenges, but today, Fife Council operates its offices there, contributing to two-thirds of local public administration jobs. Despite that deprivation is a problem in some neighbourhoods.

What can Glenrothes tell us about 20-minute neighbourhoods?

Glenrothes originates from the neighbourhoods of Auchmuty and Woodside, located with crucial links to Glenrothes’ shopping centre and Eastfield industrial estate so on paper they should be able to meet the daily needs of their residents in line with 20-minute neighbourhood principles.

However, Auchmuty is the most deprived neighbourhood in Glenrothes, ranked in the top 10% most deprived in Scotland. Despite efforts of improvements within Glenrothes’ Local Strategic Assessment, it remains the most deprived in the area. Woodside is the 5th most deprived.

Overall, the intentions set out for the new town of Glenrothes were honourable, but reality took over, and 75 years on, the mining industry has left, and the town has problems associated with deprivation with neighbourhoods ranking in the top 10% most deprived in Scotland. From Glenrothes’ experience, three key lessons can be identified and applied to future 20-minute neighbourhood projects:

Phases must work together with road and active travel infrastructure to ensure development phases do not become fragmented settlements within a large development.
Developments should be made up of a network of connected places to allow for 20-minute neighbourhood principles to work and not isolate themselves.
Each neighbourhood should not a carbon copy of the next and can provide different facilities and services, and access between them is crucial.
It is important to consider societal change as individuals’ movement is more fluid and not as static today than in 1950; therefore, connectivity between smaller localities of development is as crucial as outward connections
For local facilities to fulfil the needs of the local community, the population size/density must align with the catchment population of the desired facility.

Socio-economic makeup affects the way people live and use their places, simply providing facilities and services within a 10-minute walk from home does not guarantee the success of a place. The inclusion of all 20-minute neighbourhoods’ principles alone does not make a ‘good place’; there are many external factors that impact its success, such as socio-economics. Overall, it seems that 20-minute neighbourhoods of today can learn a lot from considering the new towns of the past.

Read the Livingston case study by Patrick Dalziel

What do Scotland’s new towns tell us about 20-minute neighbourhoods? Livingston case study

Patrick Dalziel 09 Oct 2025

This year, we asked our annual town planning interns in the Edinburgh office to consider what Scotland’s new towns could teach us about 20-minute neighbourhoods and planning for the future. This blog reviews Livingston and Katherine Bannister reviewed Glenrothes.

During the summer, as part of Lichfields internship programme, I worked in Lichfields’ Edinburgh office. In particular, I looked at Livingston New Town, specifically examining how the 20-minute neighbourhoods built within it have fared 60 years on, how successful they have been, and what lessons can be learnt for future planning.

Livingston’s development

Livingston was developed in the 1960s between Glasgow and Edinburgh to connect the West to the Forth Basin. Originally the area was used for shale mining. Livingston Village existed at this time and the New Town adopted its name. Livingston’s connection to the industrial sector continued with the proposed new town planned to operate as an ‘overspill town’, which would offer housing to people from Glasgow and work within new industrial sectors being setup within Livingston.

Livingston New Town was to be a collection of new neighbourhoods. The first of these was Craigshill, built 1966 in the centre of the eighty miles squared border initially envisaged for Livingston. In theory Craigshill is the perfect 20-minute neighbourhood, with a radial distance of 800m (10-minute walk, 20-minutes there and back) from the Craigshill Shopping Mall containing most of the area’s residential properties. This Mall still provides a good level of local facilities and services. It has a health centre, dentist, pharmacy, pub, food shops, cafes, takeaways, barbers/hairdressers, pet shop, betting shop and library. Furthermore, there are schools and a leisure centre within/on the edge of Craigshill. There are local employment opportunities within walking distance from the residential areas. This combined with the proximity to St John’s Hospital and Almondvale Shopping Centre (both approximately one mile away), and the industrial units to the north of the neighbourhood should mean that employment within Craigshill is reliable and economically the residents well provided for.

The 20-minute neighbourhood concept is expected to support health and wellbeing to create a higher standard of living in condensed communities. Yet Craigshill as a community is struggling, this is not the case for all of Livingston’s neighbourhoods. Some like Craigshill are facing higher rates of deprivation than standard, against newer more affluent villages which on average do not face the same issues regarding health, income, or employment.

Craigshill can tick all the boxes in terms of facilities and services and employment within an easy walk or cycle but social economic challenges have been prevalent in recent years and parts of Craigshill now ranks in the bottom five percentile for deprivation within the entirety of Scotland. Much of the rest of the area falls into the bottom 20%. Generally, health is below expected standards. In Craigshill, on average, life expectancy for women living in the area was 10 years lower than the rest of West Lothian, and 11 years less for men.

Looking at data from the 2022 Scottish Census, it was revealed that roughly 51% of residents travelled to their workplace through use of a private car with 11% using public transport. It is worth noting that these figures will have been influenced by the Covid-19 pandemic, 28% reported that they were working from home at that time. Given the design of Livingston was created to emphasise cycle use and walking with dedicated lanes to the centre which contains multiple employers one mile away from Craighall, it would make sense for people to work within Livingston. In 2011 only 33% of employed people above working age travelled more than 5km to work (so outside of Livingston), and in 2022 this was 26%. This represents a good level of containment in the town although the decrease in 2022 could be attributed to the higher number of people working from home at that time. In 2022 there was a 17% increase in working from home.

Overall, it is my belief that Craigshill does offer a lot of the expected prospects that would be provided within a 20-minute neighbourhood. Everything was in place for Craigshill to succeed, its layout, its proximity to several different employers, and at time of development modern housing. However, social and economic problems regarding health, economic inactivity, and anti-social behaviour have caused issues which have drawn the area away from the expectations of the 20-minute neighbourhood. It would be beneficial for other 20-minute neighbourhood plans to consider these factors and the needs of the individuals living there, or risk them facing the same problems in the future.

So will the next generation of 20-minute neighbourhoods in West Lothian fare better?

West of Livingston’s border a new 20-minute neighbourhood The Gavieside Village is undergoing planning, so how does this compare and what lessons can be learned? The village aims to be an ecologically sustainable alternative to city living, while still offering all necessary amenities. A stringent focus has been put on promoting walkability in the area, with houses stemming from a central hub and no through roads being made available from the main road linking the village to Livingston. Both Craigshill and Gavieside will have a similar number of homes although unlike Craigshill the majority of the homes at Gavieside will be for owner-occupiers, 25% will be affordable homes. In Craigshill at the time of the last Census, approximately 50% of the homes were socially rented. In the planning of the new community precautions are being taken to ensure that Gavieside offers employment opportunities across eight hectares of dedicated space, and that direct links are provided to nearby West Calder train station and new bus links are created. With the centre at Craigshill there is also dedicated employment space and there is significant employment to the north, but as stated above the neighbourhood suffers from deprivation. It will be interesting to see if the employment provided at Gavieside meets the needs of the new community and whether or not the opportunities provided are taken up by the residents of the new village.

All the elements are in place at Gavieside as they were at Craigshill and it will be interesting to revisit Gavieside in 60-years’ time to assess how its residents have embraced the 20-minute neighbourhood concept.

Conclusions

In conclusion, 20-minute neighbourhoods undoubtably make day to day living easier but for communities like Craigshill the problems are not linked to the walkability of the place but much deeper socio-economic and health challenges.

Read the Glenrothes case study by Katherine Bannister

The business case for sustainability: reflections from the BPF’s Sustainability Conference

Rosie Williams 01 Oct 2025

While economic headwinds and the political rhetoric around the effects of climate change may have sown some seeds of doubt over the future of the sustainability agenda, the message from industry leaders attending the recent British Property Federation’s (BPF) Annual Sustainability Conference was clear – the business case for sustainability remains as strong as ever.

I attended the conference and the BPF Futures Roundtable which preceded it. Both brought together a diverse group of professionals from across the real estate and built environment sectors to discuss how our industry is evolving in response to the climate crisis. In this blog, I reflect on my four key takeaways from the day.

Sustainability and creating value

The central role sustainability plays in creating long-term value in developments was a key theme throughout. Case studies of King’s Cross, Brent Cross Town and Eden Dock in Canary Wharf showed how embedding sustainability from the outset of a project can enhance environmental, economic and social outcomes.

Sustainability is not just about complying with regulatory frameworks. It is about shaping places that people genuinely want to live and work in, and success is dependent on achieving this. Ultimately, the key question we should ask is ‘is this a place people want to be’.

It was also interesting to hear the importance of planning to securing and delivering meaningful community benefits and social value that are embedded in development proposals, not bolted on or provided elsewhere. Impactful measures that can be secured through s106 obligations include affordable housing and workspace, public realm improvements and local employment and education initiatives.

Market incentives to go greener

The growing influence of investors in driving the transition to more sustainable real estate was another key takeaway. We heard discussions around new data continuing to back the so-called green premium, where high-performing, energy-efficient assets are holding their value better. Conversely, less sustainable building stock is experiencing the brown discount, reflected in lower rents and more voids. For many developers and asset owners, futureproofing new and existing buildings through sustainability upgrades is now a priority.

Some local planning authorities have taken a progressive approach to planning policy, although progress is uneven geographically, with the London Plan leading the way. As is often the case, a balance must be struck between policy requirements and viability of new development. The weight of policy requirements, including those relating to sustainability, has undoubtedly slowed down the number of new homes being built in London in recent years.

The emerging role of AI

The rapid expansion of the use of AI in helping the built environment sector meet its sustainability goals was also explored. AI is a powerful tool to gather and analyse data to inform more efficient, responsive design and development decisions. One standout example showcased how data on the use of clinical spaces by doctors was analysed to design healthcare environments that better support real-world workflows and requirements. It will be interesting to see how AI continues to evolve and influence every stage of the planning and development process in the years ahead.

Simplification

The need for simplification across the sustainability landscape was a recurring theme. With a growing number of frameworks and certification schemes, there is a real risk of fragmentation and confusion, both within the industry and for the wider public. We need to streamline and unify where possible.

The forthcoming Net Zero Building Standard is a step in the right direction. However, it remains to be seen whether it will become a universally adopted benchmark or simply add to the existing mix. What was evident from discussions is that data plays a critical role in achieving clarity. Robust, consistent data allows us to measure impact, make better decisions, and communicate sustainability outcomes more effectively. And this applies not just to regulators or investors, but to the people who live, work and move through the places we create.

While the sector is progressing in a positive direction, if the business case for sustainability is to remain, simplification will be key to success.

Concluding thoughts

The conference was a powerful reminder that, despite wider political and economic uncertainty, momentum around sustainability in the real estate sector is being maintained. From regeneration projects in London to innovations in data and AI, the day showcased the number of people, across disciplines and career stages, committed to sustainable outcomes in their work.

The sector is now better equipped to demonstrate its value through access to quality data, deeper knowledge and more credible evidence of impact. The business case for sustainability remains as strong as ever.

The full agenda of the day can be found here.

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