A battery energy storage plant is to be built on green belt land close to a country park.
A meeting of Bury’s planning committee voted to approve the plans from Taiyo Power & Storage Ltd to operate an 11 MW battery energy storage system (BESS) facility at a rural area near Outwood Country Park, Radcliffe.
The decision was passed by the narrowest of margins with the committee of voting five for and five against. Chair of planning Coun Gavin McGill used his casting vote in favour of the plans, meaning the application, which will see the plant operate for up to 40 years, is now approved.
The council received 13 objections and two letters of support for the plans.
Councillors heard representations from those opposing the proposals.
Holly Noble. chair of Friends of Outwood Country Park, said: “We see the need for renewable energy projects in the right place.
“In our opinion this isn’t in the right place. “They stand to make anything between £30M and in excess of £50M profit for this project alone.
“There is a serious question over levels of noise it will produce and and the very negative impact it will have our RHS award winning tranquillity gardens.”
She added that the friends group had received ‘an insulting offer’ from the developer for community benefit funds to compensate residents and park users potentially affected by the the battery storage facility.
Ward councillor Mike Smith also spoke against the plans.
He said: “Renewable energy projects are seen as a way forward in the right place but not at the expense of the countryside, wildlife or the local community. The developer is driven first and foremost by returning their investors a healthy profit.”
The site is in the green belt and a landscape character area and is in a river valley. The Outwood trail footpath runs to the east of the site with the footpath continuing along the northern boundary.
There is open grazing land to the south and west. Terraced houses on Wood Street are around 320 metres to the south.
The development will have 13 three-metre high battery containers, each measuring 6.1m by 2.6m, H3.1m, a storage container, a sub-station and fire water tank.
The developer said battery storage facility supports the operation of the electricity network to ensure a reliable supply of electricity.
It would allow electricity from the grid to be imported and stored at times of low demand and high generation which can then be transported
back into the grid at tomes of higher demand and system stress.
A report to councillors said that ‘battery storage is vital to help smooth out the peaks and troughs in power generation and help match it to demand’.
To enable the building of the plant on green belt land the council used new Government policy guidance to class the land as ‘grey belt’, enabling previously protected land to be developed.
The planning officer’s report to councillors, said: “The development of the site in principle, which represents a small part of this parcel, would not fundamentally undermine the purposes of the remaining green belt across the area of the plan.”
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