Expert Support Network

Welcome to the expert support network home page.

The expert support network has now ended its trial period and the results are being evaluated.

Originally launched in February 2009 and trialled again between August 2009 and March 2010, the network gave planning officers in England the opportunity to receive expert advice, information and guidance on specific issues relating to renewable energy and planning.

The network offered free support of up to one-day’s worth of an expert's time to deal with complex queries that require in-depth research, clarification and response. Typically, this was delivered via telephone and e-mail. Where queries were less complex, or were variations on ones that had been dealt with previously, the option of a half-day's or a few hours' worth of support was also available.

The service was aimed at local authority planning officers, in both forward planning and development management (although other local authority officers were also able to access the network if they have a relevant query). Councillors can also benefit indirectly since the aim of the service is to help to produce evidence to support good quality and robust decision making.

Across both the initial and further pilots, a total of 63 queries where dealt with and of these 50 queries received support from an expert. They ranged from relatively simple queries about suitability of certain microgeneration technologies to meet on-site renewable targets to more complex queries about the data on which wind turbine noise assessments were based. In each case a suitable expert was assigned to the query to give expert the necessary advice, information and guidance to the local authority officer.

The network was managed by the Centre for Sustainable Energy and was run in association with the Department of Energy and Climate Change and the Department for Communities and Local Government.