Eleven benefits of local heat planning
www.nesta.org.uk/project-updates/eleven-benefits-local-heat-planning/
www.nesta.org.uk/project-updates/eleven-benefits-local-heat-planning/
At Nesta, we think that detailed local heat planning will make it easier and faster for local areas to switch to low-carbon heating. We have repeatedly heard that challenges arise from the gap between strategic local plans - such as local area energy plans (LEAPs) or local heat and energy efficiency strategies (LHEESs) - and the reality of delivery on the ground. Through our work on clean heat neighbourhoods, we have sought to understand what value a more granular approach to local heat planning may have, how it should be done and who should be involved.
The good news is that this level of area-specific planning already happens for heat networks – the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) has a heat network zoning programme and the UK government has recently confirmed its ambition to expand this to the rest of England. We recommend going a step further, and suggest that planning should be expanded across technologies and tenures to encompass all types of low-carbon heat.
Through our collaboration with Plymouth City Council, we have mapped low-carbon heating potential at a building level across our pilot area, identifying specific groups of properties best suited for air source heat pumps (ASHP), networked ground source heat pumps (GSHP), and communal heating systems. Alongside our manual mapping in Plymouth, we are developing a digital tool to bridge the gap between high-level strategy and local delivery.
This blog sets out how detailed local heat planning gives local authorities, local supply chains and households a practical, repeatable way to accelerate the transition to clean heat.
Providing the supply chain with the signals and data required to move from theory to delivery.
1. A clear signal to engage
A local heat plan shows proactive intent and technical awareness from the local authority. As one national heat pump supplier noted: “This is a clear signal from the local authority to engage.” It invites collaboration and gives the market certainty on the direction of travel for a specific area.
2. Building a flexible pipeline
Local heat plans avoid setting rigid expectations on local supply chains, intentionally stopping short of full feasibility studies and design. Instead it surfaces packages of properties that the supply chain can react to, shaping designs to fit their own strategies and priorities. One stakeholder commented: “This would save us a lot of time; it has the information we need to move forward into feasibility and design.” This identifies commercial opportunities and reduces the soft costs – such as the cost of time spent on customer identification and acquisition – for installers and developers.
3. Empowering the local workforce
Engagement suggests that a clear plan builds confidence in electric heating technologies among the existing heating workforce. In an environment where hydrogen is often still incorrectly perceived as a domestic solution, the local heat plan clarifies that the future is electric – and signals that it is a sector worth investing in and training for. One local small business owner and training provider said: “the plan might be beneficial as it is telling people what is going to happen, instead of the possibilities.”
Granular planning enables local authorities to build a view of complex delivery landscapes.
4. Bridging the strategy-delivery gap
Strategic frameworks (such as LAEP or LHEES) provide trajectories but can hide local complexity. Our work in Plymouth focused on a complex area to highlight the range of solutions required in close proximity - nuances that high-level planning often overlooks. For example, back-to-back terraced housing with limited outdoor space requires granular planning to find viable decarbonisation pathways.
5. Driving scale
Although our pilot was for a singular ward, we are developing a city-scale digital model. We assume that by enabling granular planning at a larger scale, local authorities can quantify investment opportunities, combine similar opportunities and create a practical foundation for future funding bids.
6. Coordinating cross-tenure infrastructure
Granular planning enables coordinated solutions that require a view of multiple properties, such as communal ASHPs or GSHPs. For example, local heat planning supports the identification of social housing providers that could act as anchor loads for communal schemes. Social housing could then act as a commercial driver to deliver shared infrastructure that benefits all tenures, including those not eligible for government grants.
7. Safeguarding residents, presenting trustworthy information
A local heat plan also brings consumer protection benefits, as it helps to frame and present information that is relevant to specific homes and therefore easier for households to interpret. Having a centralised source of truth from the local authority makes it easier for households to find information, rather than exploring numerous sources and websites. We’re already starting to see this approach develop in places including Greater Manchester.
By identifying preferred and vetted suppliers, the authority can prevent bad actors from marketing sub-optimal solutions to vulnerable households, ensuring that the transition remains high-quality and technically sound. This planning process identifies which properties may be suitable for particular installers.
Turning an abstract national target into a concrete, community-oriented transition.
8. Reducing transition anxiety
For most households, low-carbon technology is unfamiliar. A local heat plan turns the unknown into something understandable and relatable. One resident framed the local heat plan as presenting the switch to low-carbon heat as "more like a transition" rather than an abrupt, confusing change. It reframes the switch as an inevitability that is being managed responsibly.
9. Connecting to community value
A granular local heat plan connects home heating to wider local benefits, such as:
Building knowledge, understanding and consensus on long-term low-carbon outcomes.
10. Collaboration across local government
Our work in Plymouth highlighted how local heat planning should influence work across local government. For example, heat planning may interact with local neighbourhood plans and have an impact on wider local planning policy.
11. Building organisational understanding
The range of technologies and their most suitable applications is complex. Rooting decisions in place helps to rationalise the trade-offs between technologies and make the complexities of different technologies more approachable. In turn, this should enable more engaged conversations between local authorities and supply chain partners.
The value we’re seeing emerge is based on conversations around the UK and our work with Plymouth City Council. There are limitations to the level of certainty, but initial signs are promising. We’re also considering how this may fit with changes in policy and the Warm Homes Plan, such as its focus on strategic area-based coordination.
To gain confidence on the value and replicability of our planning method we’re looking to scale and test the local heat planning approach created with Plymouth City Council in more places and varying contexts. Over the coming months we will look to build confidence in these benefits, and how a local heat plan can be scaled and work across different parts of the country.
We will be publishing guidance on how to do local heat planning, developing a tool to automate some of the process and rooting our work in places around the UK.
To be the first to access the resources and tool, you can sign up to the Clean Heat Neighbourhood mailing list here.
