Friday September 27th 2024
A Battery Energy Storage System in Pillswood, Hull. Image credit Fully Charged Show.
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Paul Kelly
Villagers in Berwickshire have expressed their growing frustration at the rapid ‘industrialisation’ of their communities.
The countryside around Eccles Sub-station has been prime agricultural land essential for food production since time immemorial.
According to NPF4 planning policy this type of land should only be developed for essential infrastructure.
However, in recent times the area has been subject to a number of applications for Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS).
The community has not objected to three such sites near Eccles sub-station and according to information from Scottish Power Energy Networks, there is now more than enough capacity to provide grid stability.
Despite this the BESS applications keep on coming to the point where the community is saying “enough is enough”.
At a meeting of Scottish Borders Council on Thursday, September 26, Bob Hope posed a question on behalf of Leitholm, Eccles and Birgham Community Council, of which he is chair, asking: “Is it acceptable that our rural countryside is industrialised by further BESS developments, which are purely for commercial purposes and are not required as essential to our energy infrastructure?”.
Mr Hope said the community was in no-way ‘Nimby’ – Not in My Backyard – as evidenced by its acceptance of the three battery storage developments.
He added: “Our community, which is now the most impacted by BESS in the UK, is now firmly of the view that they have played their part and they do not want their countryside further industrialised by BESS.
“The National Grid’s ‘Future Scenarios’ paper has identified a need for between 20 and 30GW of energy storage by 2035. At this time there are developments in place, or at an advanced stage of the planning process to provide 56GW of storage: almost double the amount required.
“At this time our community is confronted by a further three planning applications all for BESS storage on prime agricultural land and purely for commercial purposes. If granted the footprint for all six developments would be 14 times the size of Leitholm.”
In response, Councillor Jenny Linehan, SBC’s executive member for Environment & Transport, said she “absolutely understood the concerns” raised around development proposals close to Eccles sub-station.
She said: “However, the council is required under planning law to consider each application on its own individual merits.
“It would therefore be inappropriate for the council to express an opinion on the views set out in Mr Hope’s question, which would in effect been seen to have prejudiced individual proposals.”
Councillor Linehan did offer an invitation to the community council to a meeting where concerns could be discussed.
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