Council officers accept BESS damage to landscape… but approve it anyway

The march of renewable-energy systems into our countryside continues apace with the approval of a battery energy storage system (BESS) between Canterbury and Herne Bay.

Despite Canterbury City Council officers accepting the intrusive nature of the development, they chose to back the Sky UK Development scheme on farmland at Calcott, which had been submitted in January last year.

The 227.5MW system is close to the Woodlands Farm solar farm and this apparently sealed the deal for the council officers, who appeared to take the view that if a landscape was already damaged to some degree we might as well allow it be damaged some more.

Their report read: “The proposed development will be a visual incursion into the landscape, it will interrupt the open, small-medium scale arable field and appear in part as an industrial development within the open countryside.

“However, and notwithstanding, the presence of the large solar farm to the south on the other side of the public right of way cannot be ignored, and its visual and audible impact has a bearing on the existing landscape.”

In attempt to further justify their decision, they wrote: “Low carbon development is a critical component of national policy which is recognised as helping to achieve net zero and to provide energy security and energy flexibility.

“The provision of the BESS has a role to play in this, as it helps to maintain supply, reduces the need for new network infrastructure and reduces output waste.”