'Absolutely crackers' Derbyshire electricity battery farm rejected amid flurry of applications

“Absolutely crackers” plans for a large Derbyshire electricity battery farm have been rejected – but five more schemes are still on the horizon. At a South Derbyshire District Council meeting last night (November 12) plans from Harmony DL Limited for an electricity battery farm in Walton Road, Drakelow were rejected.

Councillors had significant concerns over the cumulative impact of six currently proposed battery farms and numerous solar farms all planned for the hundreds of acres of farmland around the former Drakelow Power Station site – utilising its historic substation and grid connections. They also had fears over the impact of construction traffic for all of those schemes – and other industrial uses and housing development nearby – on rural roads which are already said to be overloaded with vehicles heading to Burton and the A38.

This follows a national move in which solar farm and energy production companies seek to link new renewable energy projects to existing electricity infrastructure in a bid to hit carbon emission reduction and climate change targets. Councillors were also told of a lack of assessment of the fire risk posed by battery farms because they are currently not included in existing building regulations.

A national move from fire service chiefs now looks to assess the schemes and says there needs to be an inspection of their potential impact on homes, including from harmful fumes, in the case of fires, including analysis of wind direction to predict which areas could be impacted. A total of 59 objections and 105 support and “no objection” letters were received by the district council over the plans, which would site directly opposite the main Dracan Village housing site.

The scheme would include 146 battery storage containers and 146 transformer containers covering more than eight acres for a “temporary” 40-year period, capable of powering 600,000 homes for four hours during power outages. These would be built 40 metres from the under-development 2,100-home housing scheme on the former Drakelow Power Station.

Several councillors said they wanted to defer a decision on any battery storage sites (often referred to by the acronym BESS) until they had received specific training on them, due to the large influx currently in the planning system with one decision to potentially directly influence the next. They said there has also been an influx in battery farm plans around the former Willington Power Station site too.

The meeting was told a cumulative impact report had been drawn up by consultants hired by the council for the incoming battery farms in South Derbyshire but that this had not been provided to councillors. A vote to defer the decision for training was lost with four votes in favour, six against, two abstentions and one non-vote.

Mac Cummings, chairman of the Drakelow Parish Meeting (a step down from a parish council) said the authority objected to the plans due to the scale and fire and flood risks. He said: “We feel it is ridiculous to allow the concreting over of good quality agricultural land when it is a stone’s throw from acres of brownfield land.

“This would include the concreting over of land which already floods the road and allow 146 storage containers to be built metres away from thousands of houses.” Francis Nicholson, on behalf of Harmony Energy, said the scheme was needed to further efforts to combat climate change and net zero emissions targets, along with securing economic security.

He said the development would bring £400,000 in business rates and create hundreds of jobs during construction. Mr Nicholson said the scheme would see the loss of 0.05 per cent of South Derbyshire farmland and that neighbouring brownfield land was all being used for other developments.

He said the cumulative impact of energy schemes in the area was “not significant” and that the proposed benefits outweigh the negatives. Cllr Alistair Tilley said he agreed with the principle of the scheme but felt the development was in the wrong place.

He said: “I do not think anyone in this room would call 40 years a temporary approval. They said this is a well screened site away from built-up areas but it is metres away from 2,100 houses with the closest 40 metres from the nearest battery storage.”

He said initial fire assessments of similar scheme said toxic fumes needed to be considered in cases of fire.

Cllr Amy Wheelton said: “What would possess officers to plonk 300 containers on an agricultural flat field by a wood, a stone’s throw from the council’s biggest strategic Local Plan delivery site, knowing it takes 25 years to grow trees and hedges to mitigate this urban industrial monstrosity when less than 200 metres away is 170 acres of brownfield employment land ringfenced for energy. It’s absolutely crackers.”

She said it would take 40 years for the land to recover from the proposed use for a separate 40 years, due to the impact of development and that good quality agricultural land (best and most versatile – BMV) should not be used. Cllr Wheelton said: “We are all aware Derbyshire County Council highways are a joke, Burton and Stapenhill is gridlocked, the A444 bunged up with lorries, there is no mention of the bypass construction lorries, if it starts being built, Catton event traffic, 200 lorries a day 300 metres from this site to the incinerator on the brownfield energy allocated land.

“There is a clear unacceptable cumulative impact on the highway. Try driving anywhere in this area currently. The new entrance is on a blind bend, seen at the site visit just below the crossroads of doom – an accident prone hotspot. It is quite simple any proposal on BMV land needs to be justified by the most compelling evidence and there is none,

“Nowhere in national or local policy guidance does it state declaring a climate emergency implies a precedence over all considerations.” She said the flood risk of the neighbouring road was already judged to be “extensive” by the Environment Agency, with many vehicles having to be pulled out of deep water earlier this year, fearing this issue would worsen if the plans were approved.

Cllr Andrew Kirke said: “They say after 40 years we are going to put this back to how it was before…it is never going to happen.” On the potential impact of toxic fumes from a fire on the site, he said: “We can’t guarantee the wind will never blow in the direction of the houses unless the fire service install large fans.”

Councillors rejected the plans due to the impact on good quality agricultural land by a vote of seven votes for and five abstentions.

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