Context
Crawley, despite its rural setting, has a larger economy than many UK core cities but has faced grid capacity constraints at its major connection point to the national grid. This led to significant investment losses under the previous government.
Question
Despite its rural setting, Crawley’s travel-to-work area has a larger economy than many of the UK’s core cities. Despite that, it has been held back over recent years due to a lack of grid capacity at its major connection point with the national grid, resulting in the loss of several major investments under the previous Government. Will the Secretary of State look into what can be done to upgrade the connection point and unleash that restrained economic growth?
Answer from The Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero (Ed Miliband)
My hon. Friend makes a crucial point. There was this terrible backlog, where the queue had something like five times as much capacity as was required and the wrong priorities. We also had massive problems for demand connection. Our significant reform to overhaul the queue, which had not been done for years and years, will free up demand projects to connect, and I very much hope that projects in his constituency can benefit.
Not addressed: Specific measures or timelines for upgrading Crawley's grid connection point were not provided
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