Villagers fight influx of ‘flammable' battery warehouses
The village of Nursling, near Southampton, has become a hotspot for renewable energy storage despite concerns over the impact on wildlife and an internationally renowned chalk stream.
The Conservative-run council has already approved six sites in the vicinity and while plans for a seventh have been successfully blocked, residents fear the industrialisation of the historic area carries a 'devastating' risk.
Lithium-ion batteries are highly flammable and villagers and campaigners claim the water used to extinguish any potential fires is chemical laden and highly polluting.
It is a concern shared by the Test Valley borough council, which unanimously rejected the seventh application by Anglo Renewables because of fire safety doubts and 'change to the rural landscape'.
This is despite planning officers for the council recommending that the site be approved.
The proposal for a site, which would store 50 megawatts of energy, enough to power around 80,000 homes for two hours, would have bordered the internationally renowned River Test, a chalk stream celebrated for its fishing and other wildlife, and a nature reserve.
The decision did not deter Anglo Renewables from filing an eight application in May.
Nursling has become an attractive option for these sites because of the proximity to a National Grid substation.
Alison Fisher, the secretary of the Old Nursling Residents Association, said the group felt they had won a 'small battle' against battery energy storage systems.
'We are over the moon,' the 66-year-old said. 'All the other battery sites were approved so why is this one so different? There was great concern over the fire safety issue, the argument was the fire service did not object but they did not take into account what would happen to their firewater.
'There was enough unease, enough doubt, that they weren't happy.'
Prof Malcolm Coe said he understood the tension between a national need for renewable energy and the needs of residents..
The 75-year-old, who has lived in Nursling with his wife, Tessa, for almost 40 years, said: 'They will stain the landscape.
'Local sites are being industrialised by these sites which are unattractive to look at. We are losing all these green fields, it is hard to see how we can stop this happening.'
Local salmon population
The Test and Itchen Association, which aims to conserve the river, was worried about the under threat Atlantic salmon populations, which return to the river to spawn after spending their life in the ocean.
Paul Vignaux, the executive director of the organisation, explained that chalk stream Atlantic salmon are adapted to their environment and any change to the delicate ecosystem could be 'devastating'.
Fish numbers in the River Test have plummeted in just five years from 906 returners in 2019 to just 346 last year.
Mr Vignaux said: 'Why would you put a battery system right next to a protected river when you have many other sites.
'Why would you do it when there is the risk of firewater... anything that goes into our chalk aquifer, it will get into the river.
'If this site was to have a fire and that water was to get into the river it would be devastating.'
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