Plans for 17-hectare battery site in Boston area approved despite concerns about a loss of farmland

Members of Boston Borough Council’s planning committee reluctantly gave the go-ahead to the plans for Bicker Fen on the grounds that there were not sufficient reasons to refuse it.

The proposed 1.2GW BESS will cover a site larger than 20 football pitches on open countryside, with up to 1056 units, which will be up to 4.5m high each.

It will also include control and protection systems and a 400kV Air Insulated System substation with a height of 12.5m.

Under the plans, there will also be a seven hectare ‘biodiversity enhancement area’ and landscaping, including a hedgerow to help soften the visual impact on the landscape.

The two fields proposed for the development lie to the south of Bicker Drove and east of Vicarage Drove.

A third field proposed for biodiversity measures lies about 200 metres north-west of the site, north of Bicker Drove.

At a meeting on Tuesday (June 2), councillors were told that there had been 32 objection letters to the proposed application, with the majority of them coming from residents living in the Bicker Fen area.

Lincolnshire county councillor Coun Paul Lock (Reform UK – Boston Rural) attended the meeting to object to the application.

He said the site is the ‘best and most versatile’ quality of land and should be protected.

He added: “The scheme takes 24 hectares of high yield agricultural crop land and changes it to industrial.

“This is a permanent loss of food production and socio-economic value. Once lost, it’s lost permanently.”

Coun James Cantwell (Conservative – Five Villages) also spoke against the proposal.

He said: “I am here to say that this application is a step too far from an already beleaguered fen.

“This historic rural community is still very much a rural, dominated area. Its primary feature is its country lanes and fields.

“So to me, it’s clear – as it is to my residents – that there will be significant impact from this project on the character of the area.”

Applicant Chris McKerrow, from Bicker Drove Limited, said the site was selected because it is close to a suitable connection at Bicker Fen substation.

He said the principle of building energy infrastructure ‘is already very well established’ and added: “I do understand that there’s local frustration about the amount of change that this area has seen.

“But the question before members today is whether this particular proposal is in the right place and whether its impacts are acceptable in planning terms.”

There are already a significant number of existing renewable energy projects within the area – including a Viking link interconnector, and the connection to Triton Knoll offshore wind farm.

Coun Stephen Woodliffe (Independent – West) said that he could not see a sufficient reason to refuse the application, and turning it down risked the prospect of losing an appeal.

He said: “The problem I have with this application is that I can’t see any way to refuse it.

“There doesn’t seem to be anything in the report itself which would stand up against an inspector.

“If we turn down an application, we’ve got to have something that we can cite inside the reports from the various statutory consultees which would give us a good chance of defending the decision against an inspector.

“If we can’t defend it, we’re in trouble because financially we would be at risk from the decision itself.

“So, we have to be careful what we do. If it goes to an inspector, the inspector might rule that we acted unreasonably and that they might want to put costs against us.”

The application was approved, subject to conditions.