Regional Strategic Review on Sustainable Energy (2006)
In 2006, the South West Regional Assembly (SWRA) undertook a Regional Strategic Review on Sustainable Energy, which considered how the use and supply of energy in the South West can be made more sustainable.
The review focused on four key areas:
• renewable energy;
• security of supply;
• business resource efficiency; and
• domestic energy efficiency and fuel poverty.
The SWRA considered how the South West Regional Development Agency (South West RDA) and other regional organisations are responding to regional needs. As with previous strategic reviews, the Regional Economic Strategy provided the context for this piece of work.
Two regional workshops were held on the 14 March and 11 April 2006 as part of this review, and the presentations for both events can be found at the bottom of this page. Bilateral discussions were held between the SWRA and the South West RDA on 17 May 2006, and formed the concluding stage of the review. The full transcript for the day can be found here.
The SWRA produced a report and recommendations on how to move the agenda forward, which was endorsed by the Full Assembly in October 2006.
As agreed in the Scrutiny Protocol, the South West RDA issued a written response to the report’s recommendations, which is available below. Representatives from SW RDA met with the Scrutiny Panel on 23rd May 2007 to discuss the response in further detail.
The Sustainable Energy Review played a key role in raising awareness within the region of the issues surrounding sustainable energy, prompting the South West RDA to lead a “Great Debate” on energy and SWRA to establish a Task and Finish group to develop a regional energy action plan. Other examples of developments within the region include the South West RDA’s announcement of funding for renewable energy projects, such as the “wavehub” in Cornwall, and the organisation of an event by the South West RDA to bring together key skills organisations to discuss the region’s sustainable and renewable energy skills issues, consider current activity and identify actions needed.