Nottinghamshire villagers have been angered as greenbelt land is set to be lost for a project they say 'won't be nice to look at'. Two battery storage facilities, which would store electricity to support the National Grid in balancing electricity supply and demand, could be built on farmland off Common Lane, Bramcote, if councillors follow a recommendation to approve the plan on June 7.
The application site is 4.38 hectares, which is about six times the size of Nottingham Forest's City Ground's pitch, with approximately two hectares of this being dedicated to the storage facility, 1.7ha for landscaping and tree planting, and the remainder for the subterranean cable routing. This potential loss of greenbelt land has aggravated locals, who believe the space should be left undeveloped, with 124 objections lodged against the plan.
John Smart, 70, who is self-employed and lives on Valmont Road, said: “No one has discussed whether or how articulated vehicles will get in or out. What happens if it causes more congestion on the roads, that’s another problem. It raises lots of safety concerns with us residents.”
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"It shouldn’t be right in the middle of green areas. It’s a nice area to be in but having batteries opposite us isn’t going to be nice to look at. Seems to be a money thing, no thought about residents regardless of the complaints that have been laid out to the council.”
Retirees Terry Roberts, 78, and Susan Harrison, 75, of Valmont Road, agreed. “We’re not happy about it. It’s green space and should be kept that way. This area is losing too much,” Mr Roberts said.
Ms Harrison said: “We don’t know how much noise or how big it’ll be or anything. We would prefer to have it as green space but it seems like it’s too late now.”
The site would have tree planting buffer zones along the north-west and north-east boundaries including new woodland areas in the south-west and south-east corners of the battery compound.
The development would have an operational life of 30 years after a 18-month construction period. Once its operational life ends the area would undergo a six-month decommissioning period and the site restored to its agricultural use.
In order to overcome the protection afforded to greenbelt land applicants have to display 'very special circumstances'. In a planning document it was outlined there is a "very clear and urgent national and local requirement for battery storage to be provided at key substations throughout network to ensure that we have an efficient, resilient, secure and reliable electricity generation system".
Planning agent DWD, on behalf of applicant Toton Battery Storage Limited, said its project would be part of supporting the highly renewable electricity system required in order to meet the UK Government’s legally binding target of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. "There are significant benefits associated with it," a document submitted by DWD said.
"The environmental and technical reports that form part of the planning application submission demonstrate that there would be no unacceptable environmental impacts. These factors, when combined with the significant need for renewable energy, mean that the planning balance is weighted significantly in favour of the proposed development."
In a Broxtowe Borough Council planning committee report, which advised councillors to vote in favour of the project, a planning officer said: "Substantial weight is afforded to the advantages of this location in relation to the remoteness and limited inter-visibility of the site from surrounding public vantage points. Further to this, the separation from other property and the lack of environmental constraints. These would be hard to repeat collectively in many other locations.
"It is considered that, the above factors taken collectively do amount to very special circumstances and are sufficient to clearly outweigh the harm by reason of inappropriateness, the harm to the openness of the greenbelt and the harm to the character and appearance of the area."
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