®Planning appeal decision
Land Northeast of Eco Park, Charlton Lane, Shepperton, Surrey, TW17 8QA
the construction of and operation of a Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) comprising 25 containerised battery units providing an installed storage capacity of up to 200 MWh, together with associated inverters and infrastructure delivering an export capacity of up to 200 MW, and associated access, internal roads, landscaping and cable route works
- Authority
- Spelthorne Borough Council
- Appeal type
- major · Planning Appeal
- Procedure
- Written Representations
- Development
- utilities-energy · Other Major Developments
- Inspector
- Moulton E
Main issues, as the Inspector framed them
- the effect of the proposed development on the openness of the Green Belt and the purposes of including land within it
- whether the harm by reason of inappropriateness, and any other harm, would be clearly outweighed by other considerations, so as to amount to the very special circumstances necessary to justify the proposed development
What decided it
The substantial benefits of the development to climate change mitigation and electricity network regulation, combined with the absence of suitable alternative sites and the temporary (40-year) nature of the development, clearly outweighed the considerable harm to Green Belt openness and countryside character.
Framework references: 11, 142, 143, 153, 154, 168
Plan policies cited: Policy GB1
The main issues and the deciding factor are read from the published letter by Town Planner Pro; the letter itself is the record. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Research, not advice.