In a not-unexpected move, Sunbury BESS Limited has decided to appeal last month’s planning application refusal to the Secretary of State. It has been referred to the national Planning Inspectorate under the Written Representations procedure. With this type of appeal, an Inspector considers written evidence from the appellant, the Local Planning Authority and anyone else who has an interest in the appeal. The site is also likely to be visited, but there will not be the formal Hearing or Inquiry that happens with other types of appeal.

Spelthorne BC Planning has sent notifications to interested parties by both letter and email; these include an invitation to comment on the appeal directly to the Planning Inspectorate, either by letter or online, by no later than 13 November. Instructions for doing this are included on the Spelthorne Planning website for the application, 24/01112/FUL, within the ‘Appeal – Start letter’ on the documents list, which also includes the appellant’s Statement of Case and other related information. We encourage any residents with strong views on this application to submit those views to the Inspectorate.

We at LOSRA are continuing to liaise with the Charlton Village and Shepperton Residents’ Associations. This is to ensure that together we can comprehensively convince the appointed Planning Inspector that no ‘Very Special Circumstances’ do exist to outweigh the harm caused by the application being unquestionably defined as inappropriate development on Green Belt land, and that the Appeal should therefore not be allowed.

The next Music Night is on Friday 24^th October when Sunbury Cricket Club welcomes back BAD INFLUENCE, who haven’t played at the Club for a couple of years, so it’s a long overdue return.

BAD INFLUENCE are one of our most popular bands, and have done some storming shows for the Club including headlining one of their Beer Festivals. They feature Val Cowell on guitar and vocals, Richard Hayes on guitar, Pete Stroud on bass, and Johnny Brister on drums, performing their distinctive brand of hard-hitting up-front blues/rock, blending original material from their albums with interpretations of material from the likes of Tom Petty, Bonnie Raitt and Fleetwood Mac.

They have headlined The Marquee eleven times, and done several BBC Radio 2 sessions, and they always perform with passion, power and personality. Another fine evening of archetypal Sunbury Music Night fare can be guaranteed.

Admission is £10.00 on the door, payable by cash or card. Hot food, prepared by the expert chefs from our resident caterers from the community food distribution organisation Surplus To Supper, will be available from about 6.30 pm. Doors open about 6.30pm and the band will be on stage around 8.30pm or soon after.

At a remarkable Spelthorne BC Planning Committee meeting last Wednesday 17 September, twelve out of fourteen committee members voted against the Planning Officer’s recommendation for approval of the BESS application. The application was therefore refused, on the grounds that ‘The development is inappropriate in the Green Belt and there are no very special circumstances that outweigh the harm, contrary to Saved Policy GB1 of the Spelthorne Borough Local Plan 2001 and the NPPF 2024’.

LOSRA has always been opposed to the concept of a BESS on this Green Belt site and we, together with the Charlton Village and Shepperton Residents’ Associations, have worked hard for more than two years to understand the novel details and technicalities of what was being proposed; this has enabled us to argue knowledgably against the various versions of the proposal, as well as being able to circulate a detailed document to all the committee members ahead of the planning meeting. We also had a three-minute speaking slot during it to present just a few of our reasons for objecting.

The subsequent members’ debate on Wednesday evening covered a very wide range of topics, and it soon became apparent that few of the councillors were convinced by the argument that ‘very special circumstances’ existed to overturn the fact that the development was inappropriate in the Green Belt and would result in significant harm. This view prevailed and was reflected in the 12-2 vote against approval. This is obviously a very significant decision, but we will remain vigilant in case of an appeal or further applications being made to develop the site.

The following notice has been issued by Spelthorne Council following an application by local residents to secure Tree Preservation Orders (TPOs) on the Green Belt land at Stratton Road:

Town and Country Planning Act 1990,Town and Country Planning (Tree Preservation) (England) Regulations 2012.

Tree Preservation Order – TPO304/2025- Land To The East Of Bishop Wand Church Of England School And To The North Of Hawkedale County First School Bounded By Stratton Road,Sunbury-on-Thames.

On 09 July 2025 we made the above Area Tree Preservation Order and sent you a copy.

The Council has considered whether or not the Order should be confirmed.

After careful consideration, it was agreed on 11 September 2025 that all the trees of whatever species within Land To The West Of Bishop Wand Church Of England School And East Of Halliford Park, Sunbury-on-Thames, to be included in the Area Tree Preservation Order. Consequently, it was resolved to confirm the Order without modification. The effect of the decision is that the trees within the subject land are now permanently protected and any work to them will normally require the prior written consent of this Council.

A win for local residents. Well done!

In a frankly inexplicable turn of events, the third iteration of the planning application (24/01112/FUL) by Sunbury BESS Limited for a Battery Energy Storage System installation off Charlton Lane in Shepperton has been put on the agenda for the Spelthorne BC Planning Committee meeting on 17 September, with a planning officer’s recommendation for approval.

In his 34-page report on the application (available on the SBC planning portal), the planning officer repeats many of the reasons previously given as to why it must be considered as ‘inappropriate development in the Green Belt and is consequently harmful’. But then the report, which unfortunately contains a number of inaccuracies, inconsistencies and contradictions, goes on to claim that this harm is outweighed by ‘the environmental benefits of the proposal in aiding the transition to the delivery of renewable and low carbon energy to mitigate climate change and to aid the transition to increased dependency on renewable energy’.  This is extraordinary! The proposed scheme has been halved in size in terms of its electrical capability compared to the two previous applications that were recommended for refusal, and yet it is now claimed that somehow its contribution to ‘the transition to increased dependency on renewable energy’ has magically increased to the point where the application can be approved; how can this be?

Also unexplained are the Environment Agency and Health and Safety Executive’s lack of objections to the scheme, in spite of the fact that the design is required to allow for a ‘realistic worst-case scenario’ in safety terms, namely a lithium battery ‘thermal runaway’ fire event. For instance, the scheme is required to include onsite storage of 225,000 litres of water, sufficient to fight a fire for an initial two hours – but there is no indication as to what steps would be taken to prevent this water, once used and toxic, from entering the water table.

For these and many other reasons, LOSRA continues to be adamantly opposed to this development, as do the other Residents’ Associations around the site. It is be hoped that councillors on the SBC planning committee will recognise the extent of this opposition and vote against approval. If they do not, then the inhabitants of Charlton Village, Shepperton and Sunbury will surely be regretting that decision for the next 40 years. Residents can apply to attend the planning committee meeting at 7pm on 17 September by contacting This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ; let us hope that sense will prevail!