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Community Action Plan for Zero Carbon Energy

Cowley Local

Low Carbon Hub is leading the work to develop and deliver a Community Action Plan for Zero-Carbon Energy, or CAPZero, for the Cowley Local Primary Substation Area.

We want to work out what a fair and inclusive energy transition looks like in this geography. We are partnering with businesses, local authorities, and community groups on a range of projects to test out what works and what local residents and businesses will find what’s most beneficial for them.   

About the area

Cowley Local is one of Oxfordshire’s most complex and contrasting places. It includes the two most deprived neighbourhoods in the county, both within the 10% most deprived nationally, sitting alongside more affluent rural communities. It is also home to major employers and energy users, including BMW, Unipart, Oxford Business Park Campus and Oxford Bus Company, plus another 2,700 registered business meters with high and often specialised energy demands.

That mix of household deprivation, rural affluence, and heavy industrial and commercial energy use makes Cowley Local a demanding area to focus on with regard to supporting the energy transition, and a really important one.

What we’re doing

We are taking a ‘sprint’ approach to these projects, getting key stakeholders together in working groups to develop and implement projects.

Potential projects for the area include:  

✅ Debt advice centres and energy training  

✅ Increasing smart meter uptake to aid participation in smart tariff 

✅ Training and work programmes for young people  

✅ Power up: trial group buy schemes for renewable technologies 

✅ Securing community benefit funding from ground mount solar parks  

✅ Home retrofit – improving energy efficiency of people’s homes  

It is hoped that these projects will tell us more about what is possible in other communities across Oxfordshire.

For a CAPZero approach to be effective, it needs to have community embedded from the start. This means starting without a fixed plan but spending time to listen to, and understand, the community and its needs. We have been working with local leaders to design our approach in partnership with them and to feed energy related aspects into existing projects where it adds value to the community.

Aarti Chapman, Net Zero Programme Manager, Low Carbon Hub 

Pride in Place Programme

The Cowley Local area is also home to the Greater Leys geography chosen as a Pride in Place programme, led by the Department of Housing, Communities and Local Government.  

The Board will set out its strategy by November 2026. Cowley Local CAPZero will be supporting this programme with energy efficiency assessments and products in the first instance.

Get involved in the Pride in Place project

Sitting alongside the community insight will be detailed data analysis of current and future energy requirements across the area. We’ve brought together representatives from across the area to build a shared knowledge of the area’s energy dynamics and what matters most to the people who live and work here. 

The combination will result in a programme of work grounded in community needs.

See more data analysis

Who is involved?

Working under the aegis of the Zero Carbon Oxfordshire Partnership (ZCOP), a collection of Oxfordshire-based organisations who are working together on the practical solutions we need to deliver a zero carbon Oxfordshire by 2050. You can find out more about their work here.

Team members will continue to be evolve as projects are launched and the momentum builds.

FAQs

Where is Cowley Local? 

Cowley Local refers to the name of the Primary Substation Area that covers the densely populated areas of Cowley and Blackbird Leys but also the more rural areas of the Baldons and Stadhampton.

What is a zero-carbon energy system?

The energy system we currently have continues to rely on fossil fuels like oil and gas, and energy production is still responsible for most of our carbon emissions. These carbon emissions cause climate change. We need to move to using renewable electricity for our heating and transport needs to cut these carbon emissions. At the same time, we need to reduce our energy demand by making our existing and new buildings more energy efficient (e.g. through improved insulation). If we do this, our plan shows we can shift our energy production to 100% renewable and still meet our energy needs in the timeframe we have.

Why a CAPZero approach?  

For the energy transition to be meaningful and effective, it needs high level government action, local policies and plans as well as hyper-local engagement with communities. We want to help to make this transition as fair as possible, and this can only be achieved by listening to – and working directly in – communities like Cowley.

Our project prospectus sets out the steps we’ll take, partners we’ll work with and the beneficiaries of our actions in the area.

This was presented to our partners at collaborative events, where they were ranked on fulfilling community need, ambition and impact. Six have been selected to be taken forward.

Our full project plan for Cowley Local will be coming soon and made available to the public on this page.

Read our project prospectus