Green Belt battery site objections overruled

COUNCILLORS APPROVE ‘NET ZERO' PLAN

- LAUREN MONAGHAN & ZENA HAWLEY

A PROPOSED battery energy storage system has been given the go-ahead despite objections from 201 households over flooding, noise levels and other concerns.

Gedling Borough Council's planning committee met on March 26 to discuss and approve by nine votes to seven - Grenergy Renewables UK Ltd's plans for the storage system at Lambley.

The system is to be built on a four-hectare patch of land at Burton Wood Farm, reached via a farm track off Spring Lane.

The site is in the Nottingham and Derby Green Belt and near ancient woodland.

The system, with a lifetime of 40 years, will provide energy services to the National Grid, taking excess power at times of low demand, storing it and then releasing it when demand is high.

It will include three tanks of battery units, totalling 192 batteries, along with other energy infrastructure including a rainwater pond to prevent flooding.