Spotlight: Government publishes the Local Power Plan to provide up to £1 billion towards community energy and awards 6.2GW of CfD contracts to renewable project, while life-sciences infrastructure set to expand and Three River's Local Plan is blocked

ENERGY

✒️ Local Power Plan | Great British Energy and Department for Energy Security and Net Zero

✒️ Solar sector welcomes £1bn backing for community energy | Press release from Solar Energy UK

️✒️ New auction delivers unprecedented clean, homegrown power | Press release from Department for Energy Security and Net Zero

📰 More solar farms on the way after record renewables auction | BBC News

📰 UK awards 6.2GW of CfDs in onshore bonanza | reNews

✒️ Latest round of new onshore wind farms will boost energy security by powering over 1.2million UK homes | Renewable UK

🗣️ Gateway 2 backlog in 2026: Is the regime future-proof? | pbc today

🗣️ Large-scale Solar Projects: Community Engagement | House of Commons

📰 Invest in the grid and we will reap billions | Energy Live News

✒️ Study: Reliability tops price as key consideration for UK businesses when choosing an energy contract | EM Magazine

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INFRASTRUCTURE

📰 Railways Bill and investment pipeline only give ‘partial picture’ of UK rail future, committee finds | New Civil Engineer (paywall)

✒️Planning approval for Network Rail's transformation of Britain's busiest station | Press release from Network Rail

📰 New Milton Keynes data hall will boost UK's AI power, says firm | BBC News

📰 UK and North America lead in embracing building data | pbc today

📰 Data Centre Hub aims to power regional growth | Bdaily

📰 Local Plans must improve support of energy storage and infrastructure delivery | pbc today

📰 U.K. life sciences infrastructure gets a boost as London and Cambridge expand | European Biotechnology

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DEVELOPMENT

🗣️ Progress towards delivering 1.5 million new homes by the end of this Parliament | Oral questions Lord Goodman of Wycombe

🗣️ Social housing conditions barely improved since pandemic, says Housing Committee | Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee

🗣️ English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill – Committee stage (day 7) | House of Lords, Baroness Taylor of Stevenage

📰 Government blocks Three Rivers local plan due to lack of housing | BBC News

📰 Planners must prioritise climate resilience | pbc today

📰Landsec CEO: Not one of our 9000-home pipeline is viable| Estates Gazette (paywall)

✒️️ Largest UK Local Government Pension Scheme back BTR | Press release from Border to Coast Pension Partnership

✒️ New 200M UK Student Housing Partnership Launched | GCM Grosvenor

📰 Mega office deals are back in London | The Standard