®Planning appeal decision
Land on the South Side of Medlock Road, Failsworth, Manchester, M35 9WG
Planning appeal 3367017 at Land on the South Side of Medlock Road, Failsworth, Manchester, M35 9WG (Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council) was allowed on 21 October 2025 by Inspector Hughes L, by written representations. The main issue, as the Inspector framed it: whether the proposed development would be inappropriate development in the Green Belt, having regard to the National Planning Policy Framework (2024) and any relevant development plan policies.
Installation and operation of a 30MW Battery Energy Storage System (BESS), including access and associated infrastructure
- Authority
- Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council
- Appeal type
- major · Planning Appeal
- Procedure
- Written Representations
- Development
- utilities-energy · Major general industry/storage/warehousing
- Inspector
- Hughes L
- Postcode
- M35 9WG
Main issues, as the Inspector framed them
- whether the proposed development would be inappropriate development in the Green Belt, having regard to the National Planning Policy Framework (2024) and any relevant development plan policies
- the effect of the proposed development on the openness of the Green Belt and the purposes of including land within it
- whether other considerations clearly outweigh the harm to the Green Belt and any other harm so as to amount to very special circumstances
What decided it
The significant weight attributed by the Framework paragraph 168(a) to the proposal's contribution as a renewable energy project to local and national net zero ambitions and climate change mitigation clearly outweighed the moderate harm to the Green Belt.
The moderate harm to the Green Belt (given substantial weight as required by Framework paragraph 153) was outweighed by the significant weight given to the proposal's renewable energy benefits and contribution to net zero, plus minor weight for alternative site absence and biodiversity gains, amounting to very special circumstances.
What the Inspector cited
- Development plan policies
- Policy 1(j)Policy 22Policy 1(f)Policy JP-G9Policy JP-S2
- National Planning Policy Framework
- Paragraph 142Paragraph 143Paragraph 153Paragraph 155Paragraph 160Paragraph 161Paragraph 168Paragraph 87
- Judgments
- Bramley Solar Farm Residents Group v Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, Bramley Solar Limited & Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council & Others [2023] EWHC 2842 [Admin]
How the Inspector dealt with each one is set out in the app, in order: the development plan, national policy, housing land supply, other considerations and the planning balance, beside the letter.
See how each was appliedThe decision letter
Town Planner Pro holds this letter. The Appeals plan opens it and every other letter we hold, all of them searchable, with the main issues and what decided each case picked out. We do not show letters on the free site because they carry people’s names and addresses.
With an account
What an account adds to this decision
More decisions in Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council
The authority’s record since 2016 · every decision in 2025
- Dismissed20 August 20266009498The Vestacare Stadium Whitebank Road, Oldham, OL8 3JH
- Dismissed10 August 20266009617The Stables, 67 Thornham Road, Shaw, OL2 7HR
- Dismissed28 April 20263359774Land to the Southern Side of Cragg Road, Chadderton, Oldham, OL1 2RX
- Dismissed20 April 20263375124Clough Manor Hotel, Rochdale Road, Denshaw, Oldham, OL3 5UE
- Dismissed9 March 20263376260The Barn Diglea, Diggle, Oldham, OL3 5LA
The main issues, what decided it, the planning balance and the policies and judgments listed as cited are read from the published letter by Town Planner Pro and are our summary, not the Inspector’s words; the letter itself is the record. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Research, not advice.