Pendle loses battery appeal on grey belt grounds
The Planning Inspectorate has granted permission to an application previously refused by the council for the construction of a battery storage facility on seven acres off Greenhead Lane in Reedley.
Moor Isles Energy Storage, part of the European Energy UK group, was refused permission for the project last June.
Pendle Council said the scheme amounted to inappropriate development in the Green Belt and would “result in unacceptable harm to the visual amenity of the area”.
However, planning inspector Ben Plenty disagreed with the council. He concluded that while the project would cause “moderate adverse landscape harm and moderate adverse visual effects”, the fact the site can be considered grey belt tipped the balance in favour of the applicant.
For a site to be classed as grey belt it must be proven that it does not meet one of the following three purposes of the Green Belt as set out in the NPPF.
- To check the unrestricted sprawl of large built-up areas
- To prevent neighbouring towns merging into one another
- To preserve the setting and special character of historic towns
Plenty said the Greenhead Lane site “would not result in permanent, irreversible development…would not result in neighbouring towns or settlements merging…would [not] affect the setting or special character of a historic town.
He also cited the scheme’s contribution to the government’s green agenda – namely its ability to support a grid increasingly powered by renewables – as another positive of the proposals.
This type of facility can import and store surplus electricity from the grid and export it back to the grid as and when required.
The applicant’s request for costs was dismissed.
The decision to approve the Pendle battery storage scheme follows a similar decision in Trafford earlier this year.
O&G Solar, also known as Voltis, was granted permission on appeal to build a 35MW battery storage facility on a 0.9-acre site at Wild Fowl Farm north of Carrington Lane after the inspector concluded the site was grey belt not Green Belt.
More agricultural (not grey belt) land lost. Bring on the food imports.
By Anonymous
@July 11, 2025 at 12:34 pm
By Anonymous
Sovereign energy production is also important hence the battery storage. It’s all about balance.
By Rye
We were lead to believe that Greybelt was to be disused car parks and abandoned petrol stations. There was no mention of agricultural land being classed as Greybelt in Labours election campaign.
Yet more lies and misleading information from this awful government. They need to be voted out within the next 4 years before our countryside disappears under concrete.
By Rich Cleator
As per usual money talks the council decision is ignored the people’s wishes thrown out
By Anonymous
From the first moment the Grey Belt concept was aired, it has been 100% clear that it would include agricultural land, IF it was on the edge of urban areas, if it wasn’t high-grade land and if was being under-utilized. Had Pendle Council bothered to spend a minute on *research*, it wouldn’t have wasted taxpayers’ money on rejecting an application which was sure to be reversed on appeal.
By Ian Halstead
The field has never been classed as grey belt up until now, residents have never been given any chance to defend this. Ben Plenty can’t have looked at the site correctly to see where the toxic run off from the site will go, which is into the Calder river and then onto the River Ribble, contamination and pollution on a big scale.
Less than 3 miles is Lomashey Idustrial estate, perfect site for this Industrial development, land there won’t be having units built as industry in this country is depleting due to the treatment this government are handing out to businesses.
Landowner will be needing all the money he’s getting from this as he and his family will be left to clear the site and the field will forever be contaminated.
By Anonymous
This is agricultural land!!!
By Anonymous