Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Michael Shanks and Danny Beales

Tuesday 8th October 2024 Commons Chamber

[Danny Beales (Uxbridge and South Ruislip) (Lab)]

T3. Grid capacity and the slow speed of new connections is a major issue in west London. It is holding back house building, and it is holding back businesses exciting new green businesses such as Allye Energy in my constituency. The Conservatives did absolutely nothing in 14 years to tackle the issue. What is my right hon. Friend’s strategy, and will he meet me and local businesses to discuss how we can tackle this issue together and meet our missions around growth and good clean energy?

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero (Michael Shanks)]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right to say that that issue is holding back projects across the country, which is why we have tackled it from day one. We are attempting to release network capacity, which can then be reallocated to accelerate the connection of viable projects. There is a lot of work to do, and we are building on what the previous Government did to prioritise the queue and to build the necessary infrastructure that should have been built over the past 14 years.