Residents in Lower Penn united in objections to planned electrical storage systems at public meeting

More than 100 residents, business and landowners came to Victory Hall in Lower Penn, near Wolverhampton, on Friday evening to discuss the proposals and develop an understanding of what the planned developments meant to them.

The meeting was organised after two Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) applications had been made to South Staffordshire Council to develop on land on Lower Penn, at The Roughs in Dimmingsdale and on Market Lane.

Companies Elgin Energy Limited and Renewable Power Capital want to site the plants and say the systems would complement the existing national grid facility in the parish.

South Staffordshire Council are due to consider the applications, and have a consultation exercise planned next month on February 15.

It was designed to allow those in attendance to ask questions to local representatives, as well as hear from Kingswinford and South Staffordshire MP Mike Wood and Staffordshire County Council cabinet Member for Communities and Culture Victoria Wilson.

Lower Penn Parish Council Councillor Steve McEwen laid down the aims of the meeting, which were to develop a response to the planning applications, as well as bring more attention from higher levels of government to the plight of the community.

With a request from Councillor McEwen to keep the emotions to a minimum, the floor was opened up to questions from those present in what was timed to be an hour-and-a-half long meeting.

Questions ranged from how light pollution from a BESS might be destructive to the local Bat population to environmental concerns about the Roughs, with a point being made that if a fire broke out at the BESS, the toxic chemicals would run down into the nearby Poolhall fishery and the canal.

Both were offered as cases that could be used in any objections to the plans, with Councillor Holly Fuller saying that any mention of wildlife that could be damage by toxic chemicals needed to be evidenced before any objection could be validated.

She said: "If there isn't any data available which says which species are present, then we can't say that these species are present, but people can report on different sites to evidence the wildlife.

"This needs to be done for claims to be valid, as otherwise the inspectorate will come back to us and say there is nothing to see and it's all conjecture, so it's important to record all the wildlife with photos."

One important speaker at the meeting was David Stringfellow, a member of Wall Heath and Kingswinford Greenbelt Group, who had been part of an unsuccessful effort to stop a BESS plant being installed in Hinksford.

Mr Stringfellow was able to talk about the workings of a BESS, which he said saw any excess supply during the day downloaded into a BESS and then transferred through inverters from DC to AC, something he said made a lot of noise and had been part of the objection raised at Hinksford.

He also spoke about the objection process and detailed ways any objection would be ignored by the council, from saying that it would devalue a house to how it would spoil the view from a house as he said these would not be taken any notice of.

The meeting saw contributions from Merry Hill Councillor Carol Hyatt, who spoke about how she would support the objections by raising them at Wolverhampton Council, while Councillor Victoria Wilson said that the council would listen to valid concerns after any deadline.

She also spoke about how the application process worked and what she would do to help residents going forward.

She said: "I don't know if you're all aware of this, but anyone can apply for a planning application on any piece of land on the planet, and they don't need permission from the landowners.

"We've been subjected here in Lower Penn to what is almost like a goldrush, with companies just using this area, and we are like sitting ducks and I cannot allow this to happen here in Lower Penn.

"I'm not on the planning committee and that means I'm free to represent you all and after seeing the show of hands in this room, there is no one who wants this to go forward, so I'm asking you that if you want to object, please email me your complaints and I will make sure they get to the planning commitee."

Mike Wood also offered his own support and said that while the decision was not one that would be debated in Parliament or decided in Westminster, he would be putting his own objections in as the MP for the area, but also encouraged residents to take the lead.

He said: "Planning law is quite clear and the general principle of planning law is that if you own or have control of land, you can usually do what you want to do with the land unless there's a legal reason to stop you.

"That is why these objections need to be based on the legal reasons why this can't go ahead whatever the landowner or the people leasing the land may want to do with the land.

"We need to push the valid points and objections from the community as I'm sure that the views and representations from local residents will carry more weight that the Member of Parliament as you're the people who have to live near this thing.

"I don't think there is any doubt through this meeting about the strength and passion of the views of this room and I know from my emails this is representative across the district, so I'll certainly be supporting that and doing whatever I can to support your campaign."

Residents in Lower Penn looking to offer objections and representations to the BESS planning applications can do so at the South Staffordshire Council Planning website.