As the new Labour government gets to work, we’re exploring some of the key issues our communities are facing, to highlight the role of neighbourhood-level interventions in addressing inequalities and promoting better outcomes. In this blog Natasha Meldrum, policy and parliamentary assistant at Local Trust, focuses on what’s needed to successfully deliver local energy projects, to reduce the risk of doubly disadvantaged neighbourhoods being left behind in the transition to green energy.  

The new Labour government has set out to make Britain a clean energy superpower, as part of their mission-driven government. This includes developing a proposed Local Power Plan (LPP) – a £3.3billion fund that will provide grants and loans for local energy projects. 

We welcome this plan, because we believe communities need to be supported at the local level to better adapt and respond to the climate emergency.  

And through our experience of delivering the Big Local programme, we have identified the neighbourhoods that are most in need of this support: the 225 neighbourhoods in England that face the double disadvantage of severe deprivation and poor social infrastructure.  

These neighbourhoods tend to have the lowest numbers of community groups and organisations with the knowledge, time and expertise to get projects off the ground. They also have higher rates of fuel poverty and fewer employment opportunities than other neighbourhoods that are similarly deprived but have a solid foundation of social infrastructure.  

In other words, they are simultaneously the most in need of LPP funding and the least Resourced to apply for, and administer, it. 

Doubly disadvantaged communities and the transition to net zero 

Residents want to see their communities thrive and will contribute significantly to community-led initiatives to transform them.  

Four in five residents of doubly disadvantaged neighbourhoods are concerned about climate change and 68 per cent of residents believe the transition to net zero will be beneficial for their area. However, 62 per cent would like to see more local control over the process.  

Yet doubly disadvantaged neighbourhoods historically miss out on vital funding – which is why these areas should be prioritised in the LPP, to ensure they do not get left behind in the transition to green energy.  

Long-term evaluation of the Big Local programme has outlined just how important social infrastructure is to achieving change in these areas. Communities need long-term and steady investment in local capacity building to thrive in a time of transition. Resources, networks and funding are all essential to empower communities to plan and manage their own neighbourhoods as part of the net zero agenda. 

Clean energy projects in Lawrence Weston 

For example, Ambition Lawrence Weston in Bristol, a community anchor organisation committed ‘to mak[ing] Lawrence Weston an even better place to live and work’, was chosen to benefit from Big Local funding in 2012.  

The community-led partnership found that 70 per cent of households were struggling with energy bills, while 75 per cent supported the idea of local renewable energy assets to address the financial strain. This led to the creation of two clean energy projects: 

1. A partnership with the Bristol Energy Cooperative (BEC) to build a 4.2 MW community solar farm. This was completed in 2016, with the estate receiving £150,000 at the stage of completion, as well as an annual income which it invests in energy support for disadvantaged residents.  
2. Building on this success was the development of the biggest community-owned onshore wind turbine in the UK. In June 2023, its blades started turning and it began generating enough electricity to power 3,000 homes on the Lawrence Weston estate as well as an annual income of over £100,000 for neighbourhood activities.  

Residents in Lawrence Weston were only able to deliver their clean energy projects after investment in local capacity, and by building strategic partnerships over the longer term with like-minded organisations, such as the BEC.  

Running successful, resident-led energy ventures 

Ambition Lawrence Weston’s experiences show that the success of resident-led energy ventures often depend on the social infrastructure in the community. For example, a strong ecosystem of local partners, funding sources and engineering expertise – things that, currently, are not often accessible to the most deprived communities.  

The new government should learn from the experiences of communities on the ground and harness the potential of neighbourhood-level approaches. We hope to see this through a targeted implementation of the LPP, to ensure that the scheme reaches doubly disadvantaged neighbourhoods.  

We also hope to see the development of a Community Wealth Fund, to invest in doubly disadvantaged neighbourhoods and with local people in charge of the spend.  

The success of Ambition Lawrence Weston shows that this type of fund would strengthen communities and build their capacity to contribute to the net zero transition.   

Local Trust is launching a series of papers exploring how learning from the Big Local programme can inform the delivery of the new Labour government’s five missions, and where these could have the greatest impact – at the neighbourhood level. These missions span policy across health, economic growth, education, crime, and energy. 

Read the fourth paper on Labour’s mission to ‘Make Britain a clean energy superpower’.