Ex-firefighter warns of danger of explosions with proposal for battery storage farm

PLANS for a controversial battery storage farm on five acres of woodland near Oswaldtwistle have been thrown out by councillors after a former firefighter warned of the danger of explosions.

- BY BILL JACOBS Local Democracy Reporting Service

Root-Power (North) wants to build the complex close to the M65 and Lottice Brook not far from the Blackburn with Darwen borough border.

The Salford-based firm's application to Hyndburn Council for approval of the 60-megawatt Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) on land at Knuzden Moss Farm off Stanhill Road was rejected by the authority's planning committee last Wednesday afternoon as unsuitable for wooded protected 'Green Belt' countryside.

The meeting overturned a report by planning manager Adam Birkett recommending that it be approved with 21 conditions including a time limit of 40 years.

Louise Leyland from PWA planning who addressed the committee on Root-Power (North) said after the meeting that the firm was likely to appeal the 'disappointing' decision.