UK gas company Cadent had applied for Ellesmere Port to be considered for the UK Government’s Hydrogen Town pilot, but has since faced backlash from Justin Madders, MP for Ellesmere Port and Neston, and Louise Gittins, leader of Cheshire West and Chester Council.

In a letter to Grant Shapps, Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), Madders and Gittins raised concerns of constituents surrounding uncertainty of what such a pilot could entail for residents.

It read, “Basic questions, for example, such as what will happen to the cost of energy after the trail ends, have thus far been left unanswered, leaving our constituents in a lot of doubt as to what will happen once the scheme ends.”

“In conversations we have had with Cadent’s representatives, the fact that people have genuine concerns about the lack of information have been largely overlooked by them,” Madders and Gittins added.

Madders and Gittins also said Cadent had submitted for the whole of Ellesmere Port to be considered for the BEIS’s Hydrogen Town initiative. “Neither of us as the MP for the town or the leader of the Council have supported this submission and are deeply concerned that Cadent have made the submission without support from either of us,” they wrote.

The MP and Councillor said that they are supportive of efforts to find a solution to decarbonising domestic heating, however said, “We strongly believe that those being asked to make considerable changes to their properties, for a technology that has yet to be proven, should consent to the project as opposed to it being forced upon them,” they said.

It comes after reports emerged of residents in Whitby, Ellesmere Port, raising concerns over plans to explore converting 2,000 homes in the town to hydrogen from natural gas.

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Marc Clarke, Head of Hydrogen Consumer at Cadent, said the company had been working with stakeholders and the community in Whitby for over a year regarding the Hydrogen Village trial.

“The Hydrogen Town pilot is at very early stages and the Government have only just received submissions from all four gas distribution networks,” Clarke said. “A decision on which towns will be taken forward to the next stage has not been decided and won’t be announced until later this year.”

Clarke said the company had heard concerns of local residents, adding, “We are aware that the residents have many valid questions about the project, and we are addressing these. Some now and some that will take further work to answer.”

He concluded, “We ask residents to provide us with feedback and this will be submitted as part of our evidence to the Government.”

A UK Government spokesperson told H2 View that strong local community engagement for the trial will be a critical factor in selection of the final location for the Hydrogen Village trial, adding that despite offering £6m in funding for the successful project proposal, it does not mean that “any decisions have been taken on whether hydrogen for heating should eventually be rolled out in these areas.”

They added, “We will provide a reply to the letter from Justin Madders MP and the Leader of the Council for Cheshire West and Chester in due course.”