Sunbury residents only have until the 12 th February to comment on a proposal to build a very large Battery Energy Storage System next to the EcoPark.On the 24th January a planning application by consultants DWD, acting as agents for the Applicant Sunbury BESS Ltd., a subsidiary of developers EcoDev, was uploaded to the Spelthorne BC Planning website, with reference 24/00017/FUL. It is for the ‘Sunbury Battery Energy Storage System’ (‘BESS’) which featured on the front page of LOSRA’s 2024 New Year Newsletter.
Residents have until the12th February to comment on the plans, which is a ridiculously short time for such an unprecedented application. The accompanying documents are many in number, technical in nature, and at times lacking in consistency. The Applicant is applying to build a large industrial complex on nearly 6 hectares (14.5 acres) of Green Belt land adjacent to the Charlton Lane EcoPark, involving a hundred and forty shipping-type containers containing Lithium-Ion batteries and associated plant. A considerable number of issues are at stake for local residents, including:
- The difficulties created by the application as lodged being technically complex, incomplete and inconsistent with respect to detail.
- The suitability of suburban Green Belt land to locate a large and undisguisable industrial development.
- The explosion and fire risks associated with such batteries and the challenges of quenching and clear-up when they occur.
- The acceptability of placing such a complex close to suburban housing as well as the EcoPark’s incinerator and bio-digester and the Ashford Common Water Treatment Works.
- The disruption involved in routeing a very high voltage cable across the M3 motorway and through Charlton Village en-route to a grid connection point near Staines.
- The political acceptability of imposing another industrial complex on local residents when there was so much opposition to the EcoPark.
LOSRA has endeavoured to set out more details of what is being proposed and is shown below. We would ask all residents to consider this proposal and provide their views to the council’s planners prior to the 12th February, via the SBC website
To view our detailed comments, click here.
