Those with the stamina to keep up with this long-running story will recall from our web article on 13 June that Sunbury BESS Limited (SBL) had submitted some further revisions to its Battery Energy Storage System proposals for the site off Charlton Lane. These included almost halving the extent of the batteries installation and providing a Ground Investigation Report in response to the Environment Agency’s (EA) earlier objections to the proposed infiltration drainage system on this former landfill site.
Since then the EA has reacted to the Report by providing a response which disagrees with some of its conclusions and maintains its objections to the proposals. The applicant has in turn submitted just two additional documents, published on the planning portal on 28 July. The first of these is a ‘Statement of Community Involvement’ covering the various interactions between SBL and local residents’ groups and other stakeholders.
The second document is titled ‘Drainage Assessment’ and appears to be an attempt by the EcoDev Group (of which Sunbury BESS Limited is part) to overcome the EA’s objections by requesting the agreement of it and Spelthorne Borough Council to a conceptual approach to the drainage design at this stage; in return EcoDev would commit to a series of detailed conditions attached to a planning approval - presumably in lieu of providing a definitive revised drainage scheme as part of the application itself.
LOSRA remains fundamentally opposed to this latest iteration of the BESS proposal and has submitted new objections to Spelthorne Council. These have just been published on the planning portal and can be viewed from the documents list here.
