Navenby villagers’ outrage at huge battery farm plans

Villagers who could be surrounded by solar farms have reacted with dismay to the announcement of plans for a new battery farm.

The facility near Navenby would see more than 200 van-sized batteries placed on farmland just 650 metres from the village.

It is planned for land south of Green Man Road to link in with the major Fosse Green and Springwell solar farm applications nearby.

In total, 232 batteries, each three metres tall and six metres long, would be placed across two fields.

Local residents say they’ll continue campaigning against the new proposals – technically known as a Battery Energy Storage Facility.

John Lawson, a member of the Cliff Villages Action Group, lives on the same road as the proposed site.

“It’s a typical beautiful Lincolnshire country road with superb views. It’s not suitable at all for industrial buildings,” he said.

“Why not a brownfield site, or a former coal power station? Everyone will be able to see it from their back garden.

“It’s far too close to the village. I don’t understand why it’s here at all.

“This is a family area – how will parents with young kids feel about letting them play if there’s constantly lorries going to build the BESS?”

One of his main concerns is the risk of fire, which are known to be difficult for fire services to extinguish.

However, the application states all necessary precautions would be taken to prevent this.

John added that the fight against large solar farms had ‘certainly brought the whole community together’, adding “everyone’s opposed to them except for the odd person”.

Battery farms aim to help the transition to renewable energy, storing it when it’s plentiful and releasing it to the grid when needed.

Applicants Windel Energy and Recurrent Energy are also behind the 2,000-acre Mallard Pass solar farm, which recently received approval on the Lincolnshire-Rutland border.

Retired couple Mary and John Neale describe village meetings on the battery farm application as “jam-packed – people aren’t happy. They do not want it full stop.”

John, 81, said: “Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire are being targeted – particularly around here. It doesn’t feel fair.”

Mary, 86, said: “I’m not against solar and everything that goes with it, but it has to be in the right place.

“That’s land where we should be growing food. I wish I could meet (energy minister) Ed Miliband to explain what he’s doing to us.”

One local resident who asked not to be named said he didn’t mind the idea of a battery farm.

“As long as it doesn’t make noise or hum, it doesn’t bother me, but it does some people. I just won’t look at it.

“If you’re next door, I can understand the concern.

“There’s no point objecting – people objected to the new housing estate across the road and that still got built.”

The application has been submitted to North Kesteven District Council, and will be determined locally rather than by central government like large solar projects.

It asks for seven years to begin construction if approval is given due to uncertainties around the timeline of the new sub-station which National Grid is planning.

Planning documents state: “It is clearly demonstrated that there is a significant need for the proposed development to both reach local and national net zero and climate change targets and the BESS would help to achieve this.”

Proposals for a similar BESS were recently submitted in nearby Coleby.