Two leading planning and sustainable energy groups have launched a practical guide to urban energy planning - Community energy: urban planning for a low carbon future.

Released at the end of March to coincide with the last day of the Government’s consultation on Heat, the best practice 62-page guide – written for the Town and Country Planning Association (TCPA) and the Combined Heat and Power Association (CHPA)  by URBED –  and co-sponsored by several private and public sector  bodies, including English Partnerships, sets out that a step change is needed in how electricity is generated and supplied, with a transition to decentralised energy and power based on low and zero carbon technologies.

Local authorities are significant purchasers of energy services and can thus act as catalyst for energy projects, they stress. TCPA chief executive Gideon Amos said: “The provision of renewable energy by and for communities is an idea whose time has come and a resource that can help address the dual challenges of climate change and security of supply. Community energy sources including local small scale wind or solar or neighbourhood combined heat and power plants can mean people benefitting in real and financial terms from the provision of their own energy.”

u http://www.chpa.co.uk/news/reports_pubs/Community%20Energy-%20Urban%20Planning%20For%20A%20Low%20Carbon%20Future.pdf