Case study: Bristol

Bristol has a longstanding commitment to decarbonisation, driven by council initiatives and private investment. The city's commitment is exemplified by the One Climate City Strategy which sets a vision for Bristol to become carbon neutral and climate resilient by 2030.

Action in Bristol has progressed through innovative projects including the Bristol City Leap Energy Partnership, which is a collaborative 20-year public-private partnership involving Bristol City Council, Ameresco, and Vattenfall Heat UK, focused on reducing carbon emissions and achieving net zero by 2030. This project involves over £750 million of investment in low-carbon energy infrastructure projects, including renewable energy generation, heat networks and energy efficiency upgrades, as well as a focus on local jobs, supply chains and social value creation. This has not only supported citywide decarbonisation but also created a £1.5 million Community Energy Fund. Jointly financed by Ameresco and Vattenfall, this fund provides grants and loans to support community-led energy projects, enabling local groups to take an active role in shaping Bristol’s energy transition.

In 2024, the city started to progress a Regional Climate Investment Plan, with consultancy support, to guide local energy planning across Bristol and the wider West of England region. This plan is essentially Bristol’s version of a LAEP. The plan also forms part of a new wider ‘Mission Net Zero’ project, which aims to include business and investment growth, collaboration across sectors, capacity building and to demonstrate projects. Bristol is also taking a focus on community engagement through developing Community Climate Action Plans. Six have been developed to date and there are aims to create 12 more, ensuring that Bristol’s low-carbon goals reflect the diverse needs and priorities of its residents.

Bristol has an outdated local plan in place, with the current core strategy adopted in 2011. In this context, efforts to align energy and town planning reflect a pragmatic and adaptive approach. SPDs have been used to help bridge gaps between long-term policies and evolving energy strategies. Although SPDs lack the statutory weight of local plans, their adaptability has made them valuable for addressing emerging development opportunities and tailoring energy solutions to specific areas.

Bristol has used SPDs to encourage developers working on large-scale development projects to collaboratively plan for shared energy infrastructure. For instance, in cases where several large developments are clustered within close proximity, the council has asked the developers to outline plans for a shared energy centre, that could then connect to the heat network.  SPDs have also ensured that energy and heat have been considered as part of a broader area regeneration framework. For example, the City Centre Spatial Framework includes designated locations for energy centres, such as the Castle Park energy centre. This site now hosts England's largest water-source heat pump, showcasing the potential of SPDs to integrate ambitious energy projects within urban regeneration plans.

Planning conditions have also been used as a method for ensuring energy and heat development forms part of regeneration. A recent example is the Galleries redevelopment project, where the council required the inclusion of an energy centre to connect to the city’s district heat network.

The council identified that collaboration has become more complex since their energy service team transitioned to become part of the City Leap Partnership, meaning they no longer work directly within the council. This shift has impacted the ease of coordination, as external entities operate with distinct priorities and workflows, requiring new mechanisms to ensure alignment with council objectives. While City Leap coordinates much of this work, stronger connections between town planning and energy teams could enhance further policy integration. A key priority here is ensuring that the council’s decarbonisation aims remain central to heat network delivery.

Energy centres are a critical component of the heat network, providing hubs for heat generation and distribution. Bristol has leveraged its status as a major landowner to support the development of these centres. Surplus or vacant council-owned land can be put forward as potential sites for energy centres with Vattenfall, who are leading the development of the heat network, assessing options and providing resources for development. This collaborative approach enables the efficient use of available land while aligning energy infrastructure with urban growth.

Bristol City Council has implemented a LDO to facilitate the installation of the heat network. This LDO permits the installation, maintenance and operation of heating transmission and distribution systems, including underground pipes and ancillary infrastructure, within designated areas of the city. By simplifying the planning process, the LDO aims to accelerate the deployment of the heat network.

Bristol's emerging draft local plan reflects significant lessons learned from the city’s 2011 core strategy. One of the key insights driving the new local plan is the recognition that local plans, which are updated infrequently, often struggle to accommodate fast-moving developments in energy infrastructure. To address this limitation, Bristol sees the local plan as complementary to more flexible and up-to-date energy planning documents such as the forthcoming Regional Investment Plan. While the local plan provides high-level guidance and policies, energy plans created through the Regional Investment Plan have the potential to offer detailed, dynamic insights that, while not statutory, can evolve alongside emerging energy needs and technological advancements.

Reflecting this perspective, the emerging local plan incorporates policies that encourage renewable energy projects, while enabling the flexibility to be adaptable to new technologies. While these policies are not highly specific, they create a supportive environment. For example, proposed policy NZC5 sets out the council’s supportive stance on renewable energy generation and on improving the energy efficiency and sustainability of existing buildings. For renewables it specifies that:

“Proposals for the utilisation, distribution and development of new renewable energy capacity and energy storage, including large-scale freestanding installations, will be encouraged. The council will also support the expansion of heat networks in the city and their associated infrastructure’”

And that:

“In assessing such proposals, the environmental and economic benefits of the proposed development will be afforded significant weight alongside considerations of public health and safety and impacts on biodiversity, landscape character, the historic environment and the residential amenity of the surrounding area.”

The 2011 core strategy included policy BCS 14 which provided a hierarchy for heating and cooling that required developments near the city centre or along major routes to consider heat network connections. However, the absence of any feasibility studies for heat network connection was seen to have created an unnecessary challenge on assessing applications. In practice, many proposed developments were located too far from existing heat networks to make connections feasible, leading to inefficiencies and limited adoption.

The policy in the draft new local plan sets out a similar policy hierarchy for heating and cooling systems but with more policy detail, mandating connection to the heat network where available, creating a clear framework for integration into new developments. However, the council has learnt that feasibility studies for the heat network locations should be in place before new planning applications are asked to explore heat network connections; therefore the draft policy asks new large -projects (more than 100 homes or 10,000m² floorspace within or adjacent to areas of growth and regeneration) to undertake a feasibility study to consider whether a new heat network could be established.

Through incorporating these considerations into the planning process, Bristol ensures that heat network connections are viable for newly submitted applications. This step provides confidence to both developers and heat network operators through ensuring there is sufficient heat demand to justify infrastructure investments. This approach allows for greater adaptability, ensuring that policies remain relevant and effective as new developments arise and energy priorities shift. It also helps to join the dots between heat network expansion and town planning, ensuring that new infrastructure supports the city’s long-term sustainability goals.

Bristol recognises the importance of embedding flexible provisions—or “hooks”—into its local plan. These hooks allow newer documents, like the Regional Climate Investment Plan or updates to heat zoning strategies, to be read as part of the policy framework. This approach ensures that town planning remains coherent and adaptable to evolving energy priorities.

SPDs have emerged as a practical tool in Bristol's energy planning, enabling the council to address specific energy infrastructure needs in a flexible and responsive manner, complementing the overarching local plan. Planning conditions and LDOs have also been used to help facilitate heat network development. Such an approach has worked well in Bristol where large scale urban development is taking place – facilitating investment in energy and heat infrastructure as part of regeneration.