As the Government’s work on an Offshore Transmission Network continues, I was pleased to join the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy’s joint webinar with National GridESO, OFGEM and other key stakeholders to hear how the project is developing.

Alongside fellow MPs and community groups, I heard how, of the current “in-flight” offshore wind farm applications taking place, 16 developers “opted-in” to revising their applications and committing to working in a more coordinated fashion to mitigate the level of environmental damage and public disruption that their developments could cause.

Although this does not mean that they will be part of the OTN that is being developed, this is a positive step – and I welcome the news that BEIS are working with OFGEM to further encourage the other developers of current wind farm projects to be far more ambitious and proactive in coordinating their applications.

For those projects that are yet to go into the planning stage, but which have had leases for wind farms pre-2030 granted, I am pleased to hear that a more plan-led approach is being pursued to delivering their offshore and onshore infrastructure. Again, while these are not planned to be included in the OTN, this is a positive step – and an additional step towards the more coordinated, strategic approach we want to see (and which BEIS say will be in place in the form of an OTN from 2030 onwards).

Nevertheless, with parliamentary colleagues and community groups, I continue to actively call for as many projects as possible pre-2030 to be included in the OTN plan. If the OTN can be delivered more quickly, it absolutely should be – to maximise consumer benefits and minimise environmental damage and local disruption.

Rest assured, I remain firmly committed to pursuing this campaign.