What does the year ahead have in store for the future of solar energy and planning in the UK?

Tom Pike, Director of Planning at multi-disciplinary consultancy Lanpro shares his views:

Here in the UK, following the change of government in July, we anticipate an increase in the number of planning applications being advanced for renewable energy schemes, specifically solar.

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This is in response to the changes in the process for securing connection offers with National Grid – solar schemes will not be able to advance to a specific point in the process in securing a connection until they have a ‘positive planning context’ which we understand to be a ‘live’ planning application.

We expect that this will result in more planning applications being submitted to local planning authorities, some of which may be more speculative in nature. This, together with the general increase in number of submitted planning applications anticipated from the changes to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), is likely to further stretch resources at local planning authorities, together with exacerbating skills shortages given the increasingly technical nature of renewable energy schemes.

But whilst the Government’s promise to recruit 300 new permanent town planners into the public sector is welcomed, lack of resources is likely to continue to be a significant blockage in the system in the short term.

In terms of planning more generally, the Government has recently consulted on revisions to the NPPF and the finalised version is due to be published shortly.

Lanpro is broadly supportive of the proposed changes. We are looking forward to assisting clients in bringing forward development (for energy and homes) within a more pro-development system. However, we remain concerned that the effectiveness of the proposed changes could be diluted should transitional arrangements not be effective.

That said, we anticipates growth in the planning and development sector throughout 2025 and expect an increase in the number of applications being submitted and local plans being advanced. This should start to reverse the missed opportunities to date.