Despite fear of fire from residents, environmental impact concerns from Slimbridge Wildlife and Wetlands Centre and an intervention from the area's former Conservative MP, an expanded battery electricity storage scheme (BESS) just a few wingbeats from the world-famous bird sanctuary in Gloucestershire will go ahead after the updated scheme was voted through.

Amid several stipulations, Stroud District Council's Development Control Committee agreed on the plan from Relay Slimbridge Ltd for a 36 megawatt (MW) storage facility and a 132kV transformer on 8.6 acres of land north east of Kingston Road, the site lying between Slimbridge village and the WWT's Wetland Reserve.

The scheme, on two acres within the site, will see:

● 30 battery storage containers with inverters.

● 60 transformer stations.

● 1 DNO Substation and 1 Customer Substation.

● Security fencing, a satellite communications dish, CCTV and a new internal and external access track.

Relay said that the go-ahead was vital in the UK effort to meet the demands of the Climate Change Act 2008, which introduced legislation to reduce net greenhouse gas emissions by at least 80% by 2050 from their 1990 levels.

But as well as fears voiced by the parish council and a long list of local neighbours, objections included a letter from former Stroud MP Siobhan Baillie, who told SDC Chief Executive Cllr Kathie O'Leary she feared that an initial decision to agree to the scheme in April 2023 may have been made by councillors without knowledge of the full facts.

Ms Baillie said: "The safety of the site continues to cause serious concerns as [residents] have very real fears of potential risk from a fire with regards to fumes and evacuation."

Very little was known about fire safety at battery storage sites, she added.

However, a comprehensive report for Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service by Abbott Risk Consulting Ltd found that safety provisions were satisfactory for the site, which would include technology to send video monitoring for safety back to GFRS in real time.

Additionally, Holly Marlow, for Natural England, told planners that the site, within the Upper Severn Estuary SSSI did not raise concerns for environmental impact.

Nailsea-based Amalgam Landscapes submitted details which show that the majority of the site will be given over to widflower meadow, with extensive planting of rich native hedgerow, while the oringal plans submitted in March two years ago by Murray Planning Associates (MPA) who said in a report to the council that the move was vital to meet the changing nature of energy production and consumption.

MPA said: "The proposed batteries store electricity and would allow the local Grid network to operate more efficiently; taking excess energy, storing it and releasing it onto the network when the grid needs it at times of peak demand.

"With the closure of thermal generation plants, the National Grid is experiencing a reduction in system inertia, which will continue as more fossil fuel powered generation capacity is retired. At the same time, high volumes of intermittent renewable generation (mainly wind and solar energy) capacity have, and will continue to be, installed onto the network."

In response to this, MPA added that the National Grid procures a range of grid balancing services from third parties to help them manage the supply and demand of electricity across their network and ensure constant power supplies for all electricity users.

MPA added: "The proposed development will provide this grid balancing service using advanced and highly efficient battery technology which offers the lowest environment impact – producing zero emissions."

Cllr Lindsey Green (Conservative, Berkeley Vale) said the scheme would spell the industrialisation of the rural area, which is just 600m from the bird sanctuary.

Despite caution about the plan being increased in size, Cllr David Drew (Labour, Stroud Central) said he felt the project was necessary. He added: "As long as the safety concerns are paramount, we have to find these sites."