New Outline Energy Plan to unlock growth and drive the energy transition in Cheshire and Warrington

Urban Foresight has been appointed by Enterprise Cheshire and Warrington (ECW) to develop an Outline Energy Plan.

The commission will give ECW and its three local authority partners – Cheshire East, Cheshire West and Chester, and Warrington Borough Council – a decision-ready evidence base to unlock growth, secure energy infrastructure investment, and engage effectively with upcoming national funding processes.

Why this matters now

Cheshire and Warrington is the most productive economy in the North of England, with an ambition to deliver 1GW of new renewable generation and storage by 2030. But grid constraints, particularly around the Mersey Ring and South Manchester Grid Supply Point, are slowing investment in housing, business development, and industrial decarbonisation.

More than 37,000 households in the area are currently in fuel poverty, and just over half of Cheshire and Warrington homes currently meet EPC C or above.

The sub-region also has distinctive energy assets not yet fully reflected in strategic planning: the HyNet hydrogen corridor, underground salt cavern storage, and major industrial sites including Protos and Urenco Capenhurst. These create real opportunities to produce, store, and scale low-carbon energy at a regional level.

What the plan will deliver

Urban Foresight will model current and future energy demand across six areas: domestic heat electrification, transport decarbonisation, high-growth development sites, distributed industrial and business demand, rural and agricultural energy, and hydrogen generation and use. This runs alongside GIS-based infrastructure capacity and constraint mapping across both the distribution and transmission networks.

Outputs include a scenario-based spatial modelling and a structured evidence pack for early engagement with network operators as part of the Regional Energy Strategic Plan (RESP) process. All outputs will be designed for multiple audiences, from NESO and DNOs to council leaders and potential investors, and will serve as a genuine first stage of a full Local Area Energy Plan.

Building on proven capability

“This is about giving Cheshire and Warrington the evidence it needs to act. The region has enormous growth potential, but without a clear picture of where demand and infrastructure are out of step, investment will continue to stall,” said Anneliese Allen-Norris, Principal Consultant at Urban Foresight.

This project builds on Urban Foresight’s established energy planning capability, including the North Northamptonshire Local Area Energy Plan, the Net Zero Heat Innovation Plan, and our community energy hub model. It also draws directly on our recent EV charging feasibility work for ECW, which gives us an existing understanding of freight demand, network constraints, and strategic sites across the sub-region.