Those who were at the LOSRA Annual General Meeting on the 19 th June will have heard Daniel Mouawad, the Chief Executive of Spelthorne Borough Council, unexpectedly announce that the planning application for a huge Battery Energy Storage System on Green Belt land adjacent to the Eco Park in Charlton Lane had been withdrawn by the applicant.The application had been on the agenda for discussion at the Spelthorne Planning Committee meeting on the evening of the 26 th June, with a Planning Officer’s recommendation of refusal. Both LOSRA and the Shepperton Residents’ Association were preparing to speak against the application,and we were naturally keen that the councillors on the Committee should all vote in support of the Planning Officer’s recommendation.
Since being advised of the proposal by the developer’s agent DWD in May last year, LOSRA has remained actively and implacably opposed to what we believe would have been, for so many reasons, a disastrous imposition on the local environment. We are therefore naturally delighted that this totally unacceptable scheme has been withdrawn by the applicant - a decision that must surely have been affected not just by the Planners’ refusal recommendation but also by the fact that 272 letters of objection to the scheme were registered on the Spelthorne Planning portal. The scheduled Planning Committee meeting on the 26 th June has now been cancelled as it is no longer necessary.
We cannot assume that this is the end of the matter, for it is always possible that the developer will submit a revised application. We will remain vigilant, and in the meantime hope that sense will prevail with the realisation that Green Belt land in Sunbury is a totally inappropriate location for a large industrial plant of this type.
