Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether guidance on community benefit funds for electricity transmission infrastructure will include transmission projects where (a) voltage and (b) capacity upgrades are required resulting in additional impacts on local communities.

Government is committed to ensuring that communities who live near clean energy infrastructure can see the benefits. This includes publishing guidance on community funds this quarter, which will set out government’s expectations for communities living near to electricity transmission network infrastructure.

The guidance aims to balance the need for consistency without being overly prescriptive and unintentionally omitting projects or infrastructure where communities should be entitled to benefits.

We aim to publish this guidance in due course.