Battery storage near Chickerell approved after deferral
Councillors were told that the revised plans for the 24-container scheme were better than a previous application which was rejected last year.
A battery storage facility near the Chickerell electrical sub-station has been approved after a decision was deferred in January for a further look at access to the site.
Councillors were told that the revised plans for the 24-container scheme were better than a previous application which was rejected last year.
The site will be contained by a four-metre high acoustic fence with two large transformers on the south of the site.
Part of the land and access falls within a flood zone and has generated many objections from residents, most worried about the risk of fire from battery storage site and the toxic fumes which would come from that.
"Ignoring real-life evidence"
One objector said the computer-modelled safety claims for the site were no better than astrology or witchcraft, ignoring real-world incidents elsewhere.
Objectors said that despite claims that a revised route from the north gave two access points – in reality there remained only one access, from Coldharbour along a narrow farm track, which would then split into two, going either way around the site.
The developers said it was not possible to create a second access from Coldharbour with Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue maintaining that two, separate, routes would be better, although the split in the route part-way towards the site did provide alternative choices for firefighters.
The scheme is for a 50MW battery storage project immediately north of the electricity sub-station with the nearest homes 350metres away at Grafton Avenue with another large housing scheme being proposed to the east of Chickerell, 400metres from the battery storage site.
A larger 400MW battery storage site for another company, Statera, was approved in July last year for a site to the immediate west, where the single access point at Coldharbour was also considered acceptable.
The smaller site lies within a site of Local Landscape Importance with a public right of way alongside the site and National Grid powerlines overhead.
A previous application was rejected, against officer advice, on fire safety and the risk of contamination to water sources in the event of a fire.
The developers for site, Weymouth Battery Limited, said the latest scheme had better fire detection and fire suppressant methods, fire walls between each block of four storage units, and had improved passing points on the access track as well as adding to biodiversity and landscaping proposals and providing storage for polluted water, in the event of a fire, to prevent it entering the immediate landscape.
On site there would be five large tanks capable of storing 250,000 litres of water, available to Dorset and Wiltshire Fire Service.
The scheme has also been slimmed down from 60 to 50MW with a four-metre acoustic fence around the perimeter, capable of providing power for 19,500 homes.
Dr John Fannon said he doubted much of the computer modelling about safety which he said ignored incidents which had happened in real life with a fire in one containers more than likely to spread to others.
“Reliance on computer models and ignoring real-life evidence is tantamount to astrology or witchcraft,” he said.
He accused Dorset Council of already endangering the local community by its decision last July to approve the larger, Statera, proposals.
Other objectors talked about ‘smoke and mirror’ claims to justify the application with any fire likely to affect each entry to the route at the same time – delaying fire-fighting, with no passing places planned for two fire tenders to pass each other.
Agent for the developers Philip Duncan said the company acknowledged the public concern but said much of the claims made against it were not evidence-based and taken out of context.
He said engagement with the police, fire service and others had not met with any objections from a single statutory agency and the proposals met their guidelines – as did the proposed access to the site.
"The right application – but in the wrong place"
Chickerell town councillor Neil Hudson said the site was simply the wrong place for the proposal and the cost of public evacuation would be disproportionate to any advantages of having the storage facility.
He said the area had four schools, a police station, football stadium and thousands of residents on both sides which might need to be evacuated in the event of a fire, at a huge cost.
Chickerell ward councillor Simon Clifford called on the committee to consider the application ‘in the whole’. He said he had yet to find a single person in the area in favour.
“This is the right application – but in the wrong place,” he said.
Upwey and Broadwey councillor David Northam proposed accepting the scheme, saying it met the previous concerns; other councillors adding that the committee ought to listen to its own experts and the experts from the fire and rescue service who were not opposing it.
A series of conditions will be negotiated by officers with the developer before the approval is finally signed off – including the future maintenance of the access track and installing CCTV.