A REPORT has recommended an energy facility in Hammerwich is given the go-ahead.
The battery energy storage site has been earmarked for land to the west of Lions Den.
The proposals have been called in for a decision by Lichfield District Council’s planning committee by Cllr Leona Leung over concerns about the impact on the green belt.
But a planning officer’s report to a meeting next week says the scheme should be approved. It said:
“The proposal would make a direct contribution to the national push towards clean energy and net zero, providing energy storage to enable better flexibility and efficiency of the existing National Grid assets, including renewable energy generation.
“This is the key benefit of the proposal and officers have attributed great weight to this within the planning balance.
“The development is within the Green Belt. Officers have undertaken a review of the site and concluded that it would constitute grey belt land. Officers have also undertaken an assessment of the proposal if it were not to be considered grey belt land, for completeness, concluding that material considerations indicate that Very Special Circumstances exist and the proposal should be supported.”
Concerns have also been raised about the suitability of narrow roads in the area during the construction of the battery energy storage site.
But the report said mitigations had been proposed:
“During the construction phase, which would last up to nine months, there would be a projected average of one heavy goods vehicle trip per day, with a maximum of six. The initial three month period would result in more HGV trips, at an average of five trips per day.
“The applicant proposes a set of mitigation measures including improving visibility splays and scheduling trips outside of peak hours. Officers are satisfied that the proposal would not result in an unacceptable impact on the highway network. Staffordshire County Council’s highways department have not objected to the proposal.”
The report will be debated by the planning committee on Monday (30th June).
So, the officers say it’s “grey belt”, and even if it isn’t they’ll find another excuse. If you look on google, west of Lion’s Den, you just see green fields. Does “Green Belt” mean anything?
It doesn’t to this council. They don’t see green belt just building sites! And then the HGV traffic. There will be on average one HGV delivery a day with an average of six but an average of five a day in the first three months. And will the council have an officer there every day to ensure that this is adhered to? Of course not. As with other construction companies operating in Lichfield they will just do whatever they want. RIP Lichfield Green Belt.
This is but a start of development in this area. The insatiable land grab will soon engulf these outlying villages and transform them into estates. Local history based on time and mapping suggests this is an inevitability. This has been the trend since the Industrial Revolution; it shows no sign of slowing. The protective green belts were supposed to limit the despoilment of the countryside. This in now largely ignored and ‘grey’, ‘brown’ and other mitigations have been introduced to undermine this. Welcome to Megalopolis!
Another try!! It would seem that the only two party’s that will get any “reward” from this project are the land owner getting rent, and the Council getting rates?
For goodness sake Philip, grow up. Have you actually read the
proposal for this development? You appear to be relying upon your powers of clairvoyance. There is no hint of the insatiable land grab which your crystal ball predicts.
I do despair that we are becoming a nation of NIMBYs. It seems that whenever and wherever it is proposed to put wind farms, solar farms or battery storage, there are howls of protest. And yet people still expect to walk into their houses, flick the switch and the lights will come on. Where do they think the power is going to come from? Coal fired power stations are a thing of the past, thank goodness, and nuclear power is a classic example of just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should. Yes, use common sense when locating facilities, but the sheer amount of NIMBYism is getting out of hand. The rise in AI will require huge amounts of power, although it is another example of ill-advised progress.
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