Plans for a potentially “visual eyesore” green energy storage unit near a Pembrokeshire football club have been refused.
AMP Clean Energy, in an application to Pembrokeshire County Council, sought permission to site a micro energy storage ‘battery box’ project on a verge near Monkton Swifts Football Club, Monkton, Pembroke.
The scheme is one of a number of AMP submitted ‘battery box’ applications in the county, with two recently granted at the Bridge Innovation Centre, Pembroke Dock, and land to the south of Withybush Industrial Estate, Haverfordwest.
Others, registered to date, awaiting decision, are in Pembroke, Milford Haven, and Fishguard.
In its application AMP says: “AMP sought pre-app advice for nine locations for battery boxes (six in the south and three in the north). The conclusion from the six south locations was as follows: ‘In conclusion, proposed micro energy storage project or battery box located at six various locations, are deemed subservient in scale, design and appearance resulting in the proposal being in accordance with the relevant policies of the LDP. It is in mind that the local planning authority would be supportive of this application’.”
A supporting statement accompanying the Monkton application says: “The proposed development is for a 200kW/800kWh Energy Storage Systems (Battery Box) and would be just one of the many ESSs being developed by AMP Clean Energy around the UK. A Battery Box imports electricity from the local electricity network when demand for electricity is low or when there are high levels of renewable energy available. It then exports that electricity back to the grid when required in periods of high demand.”
Pembroke Town Council supported the application but made “observations that it could encourage anti-social behaviour and a visual eyesore to the area”.
The application was refused by county planners on the grounds “The proposed battery box unit are considered to be of poor design and would not appear as a subservient and seamless in relation to its siting within the area of Monkton.
“As such, the overall bulk and form of the proposed development would not be compatible with the character and visual appearance of the area, becoming visually prominent, as it is raised at a vantage point of approximately 2-3 metres above the highway verge, becoming quite visually prominent within the area of Monkton.”
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