Council must pay costs after losing appeal for battery facility on green belt land. Climate benefits cited.
The energy storage system is called BESS and will be at Illeybrook Farm, off Illey Lane. Gareth Thomas was the government inspector. He said the council must pay some costs.
Thomas thought the council acted unfairly and were unclear on their argument. This caused extra work for the appellant. The project will hurt the green belt, but he saw climate change benefits, saying renewable energy justified it.
Paul Barton works for Harris Lamb and managed the appeal for Anglo Renewables. They’ve approved similar systems before, delivering clean energy. He’s happy about this new BESS site.
His team cares about these sites and works with officials to reduce any impact. Barton thinks site selection matters, and working with officers is also key. Not all green belt sites are suitable.
The Illey Lane site will last about 40 years and cover 1.1 hectares. It has 112 battery storage containers and twenty-eight inverters. Cameras will be on a four meter pole, with most things under three meters tall.
Thomas stated the system is important because BESS stores extra renewable energy, allowing wind and solar power to be saved. It will send power to the grid when needed, helping manage power from renewable sources.
Dudley Council hasn’t commented yet, having not responded to a request from the Local Democracy Reporting Service.