Planning Permission for Battery Energy Storage Facility

The proposal was planning permission (temporary 25-years) for the construction and operation of a 7.2MW battery energy storage facility comprising 2 battery containers, 3 inverters, parking, paladin fencing, acoustic fence, proposed planting and low-level CCTV cameras. The facility will be called upon by National Grid to provide standby electricity generation during peak demand periods. National Grid requires theses rapid response balancing services to counter unexpected frequency changes to balance the real-time changes in supply and demand.

Site Location

The site is located within a currently vacant greenfield plot of land with no specific use. The site is located to the west of Coldmoorholme Lane, approximately 1.2km north-west of Bourne End and approximately 5.2km south-east of High Wycombe. The surrounding uses along Coldmoorholme Lane are agricultural fields to the north and west and residential properties to the east of Coldmoorholme Lane.

The site is located within the Green Belt. The site is also within the Little Marlow Gravel Pits, Corridor Biodiversity Opportunity Area and Little Marlow Country Park. Well End and Abbotsbrook Conservation Area is within 1km of the site.

The application site comprised circa 0.3 hectares of land.

The application site (red star) within the wider site context (Source: Google Maps 2023)

Images showing the site and the immediate surroundings.

Enzygo Ltd successfully secured planning permission for a battery energy storage facility following Well End Energy Hub Ltd.’s successful appeal against the decision of Buckinghamshire Council. The planning application was initially refused at planning committee, despite the Officer’s recommendation for approval, due to the proposed developments harm to the Green Belt and the Little Marlow Lakes Country Park.

Enzygo produced and submitted technical documents from our internal teams including landscape, noise, hydrology, ecology, geo-environmental and hydrology and project managed the original planning application. Following the refusal, Enzygo successfully managed the appeal and provided landscape services to support the appeal.

Operating as a multi-disciplinary consultancy allowed for efficient and effective cross-team working to ensure no statutory consultee objections as part of the original application (which was recommended for approval) and ultimately led to the successful planning appeal.

Benefits of the Consented Development

Consented Site Layout Above

The consented battery energy storage facility will be essential infrastructure in the UK’s energy systems transition to a robust, low carbon, secure and flexible energy system powered by intermittent renewable sources such as wind and solar. The consented development will enable a faster transition to the low carbon future powered by intermittent renewable sources and help meet the UK Government’s target of Net Zero by 2050.

Following a robust site search, the site was identified as entirely suitable for the proposed development, being situated within close proximity to the electricity substation point of connection which had sufficient capacity to support the consented scheme.

From the outset, Enzygo recognised the requirements of the site to ensure the development was fit for purpose and acceptable to the client, Local Authority, and other stakeholders. During the appeal process, Enzygo’s Planning and Landscape team successfully demonstrated that there was Very Special Circumstances for the development to be located in the green belt, and that there was no harm to the Little Marlow Lakes Country Park.

Multi-disciplinary consultants Enzygo Ltd successfully managed the planning appeal process resulting in Well End Green Energy Hub Ltd being successful in their appeal against the decision of Buckinghamshire Council.

The Planning Inspectorate agreed with Enzygo’s assessment that the environmental benefits of the proposal are sufficient to clearly outweigh the harm to the Green Belt and the proposal would not harm the Little Marlow Lakes Country Park.  H Wilkinson, the Inspector in the appeal, confirmed that “the proposed development would contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by providing a facility to store surplus energy”.

Enzygo looks forward to continuing to work with Well End Green Energy Hub Ltd on their future energy infrastructure projects following this success.