Speeches by Onn.

“If things are community-led and community-owned, very often the structures can be less rigorous in terms of the people who are involved and remain. People can move on relatively fluidly. Is there a risk that, as time moves on, perhaps other groups have moved in on what was once a community group and then start to chang…”

“I wanted to make reference to my entry in the register of interests as a director of a community energy scheme.”

“Are you going to be explicit about that in the local power plan and in relation to the information that was provided to the Committee earlier in relation to the responsibility and accountability for the 8 GW target?”

“Helen, community energy groups and projects are diverse, to say the least. How do you pick winners as GBE? What are the key criteria?”

“There is an element of picking winners in that, really. That is fundamentally what GB Energy will be doing. You have a role in delivering that 8 GW.”

“Level of detail is a very good lead-on to my question. We have been wrestling with the definitions of local energy and community energy. It has been suggested that we need to have that bottomed out. We have a definition of community energy in the national planning framework. It says, “Community-led development. A devel…”

“Do we have the selection criteria yet?”

“So your priorities are going to be regulatory first, funding second, and personnel third.”

“I do not think that you can have three things working in tandem.”

“It really does not fit with what we have just been talking about, so I am sorry. I am going to take you back to the definition of community projects. I am wondering how clarity will be served on what the whole of Government agree is community energy, if there end up being two definitions, one in the national planning f…”

“Do you know when it will be developed by?”

“It is very easy, though, isn’t it, to say, “It’s a local community project”? It just hasn’t happened, and not without all of our best endeavours.”

“Some of the ways that you could help some of the barriers to developing and delivering community energy have been related to tax, levies, subsidies and policies. Do you have any priorities in any of those areas that you will be focusing on to try to reduce the barriers that communities face? If so, can you list them fr…”

“It is very easy, though, isn’t it, to say, “It’s a local community project”? It just hasn’t happened, and not without all of our best endeavours.”

“I worry a little bit—and I do not know whether you share this worry—that, as soon as you move into a shared endeavour without the right levels of support or necessarily the right pressure coming from the driver, you will not reach the targets or ambitions that you have set yourselves.”

“You are committing to a flexible range of financial support, or that is your intention.”

“So you are not prescribing anything. You are not going to say, “It is a 70:30 split. We think local is going to deliver much higher capacity than community, so we will put the bulk of our support or expectation behind that”.”

“Do you agree, Marzia?”

“Are you going to be explicit about that in the local power plan and in relation to the information that was provided to the Committee earlier in relation to the responsibility and accountability for the 8 GW target?”

“You are not committing, but intending, perhaps.”