Abstract The impact of the spatial variation of inertial response and fast frequency services has not been fully investigated in power system scheduling models incorporating constraints on network security. This paper demonstrates the importance of acknowledging the variety of local frequency dynamics in the aftermath of a generation loss. It proposes a novel scheduling methodology that enables the system security in all areas of the system thus preventing potential tripping of distributed generation triggered by locally-measured high rates of change of frequency. The proposed methodology highlights the positive contribution to local frequency dynamics from an HVDC link, whose capacity is optimally dispatched to allocate power flow and fast-frequency services. The novel power system scheduling model is applied to analyze a typical 2030 GB low-carbon scenario. Results show that there are changes in the commitment decisions compared to the solution obtained with a one-area formulation when local security is taken into account. These changes translate into additional operational cost.