Greater Manchester heat network zone

Greater Manchester took part in the pilot as a combined authority covering ten boroughs. Its emerging plan is for the combined authority to act as zone coordination body through a new committee, with a key decision due in November 2026 and the body set up from April 2027. Stockport, one of the first six places named in October 2024, is tracked separately; government webinars also list Trafford and Bolton in the Advanced Zoning Programme.

Tracked separately within Greater Manchester: Stockport.

1. September 2024

   1Pilot

   Listed among the 28 places in the government's heat network zoning pilot, which published its first outputs in September 2024.

   Source: Heat networks zoning pilot (GOV.UK)

Potential zones exist in all ten boroughs. The combined authority plans to focus first on starter networks in Trafford, Stockport and Oldham.

Candidate areas come from government-commissioned studies and council work. They are not legal boundaries. A zone’s boundary is fixed only when it is designated under the zoning regulations.

We have found no appointed or bidding developer for Greater Manchester.

No statutory zone developer can be appointed until a zone is designated. Partners appointed by councils before then are listed as development or delivery partners.

We have found no existing district-scale heat network in Greater Manchester.

• 2 Jun 2025Remaining 13 zone opportunity reports published
• 23 Sep 2024First zoning pilot outputs: heat network zone maps

1. Heat networks zoning pilot (updated 25 November 2025) — Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, 25 November 2025
2. Greater Manchester heat network zone coordination body update (briefing) — Greater Manchester Combined Authority, October 2026
3. Heat network zoning market engagement webinar recordings — Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, 25 November 2025

Record last checked 8 November 2026.