COUNCILLORS will make the decision over an "alien" battery energy storage facility, which could create a “horrendous industrialised” site.

Anglo Renewables Ltd's application for a facility, capable of delivering 50MW of stored electricity, will be voted on by Test Valley Borough Councillors on Tuesday, June 10. There have been 19 objections.

The application was previously deferred by councillors on Tuesday, April 8, so landscape officers could complete a report.

The facility is proposed to be next to the Nursling Industrial Estate, at the junction of Mill Lane and Weston Lane and is intended to operate for 40 years.

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The site plan for the battery storage facility near Romsey (Image: Anglo Renewables Ltd) Council officers are recommending approval. Their report said: "The previously deferred matters have been resolved, and the previously outstanding satisfactory responses from Ecology and Natural England have also now been returned.

"Subject to a satisfactory consultation response from [the] Environment Agency to the 
updated Flood Risk Assessment and the imposition or amendment of any planning conditions that arises from this consultation response, it is considered the merits of the proposed scheme outweigh the identified harm.

"Therefore, permission is recommended."

In its response, Natural England said it had "no objection", subject to appropriate mitigation being secured.

It said: "Without appropriate mitigation, the application would have an adverse effect on the integrity of Solent and Southampton Water Special Protection Area (SPA) and damage or destroy the interest features for which the River Test Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and Lower Test Valley SSSI has been notified."

The mitigations recommended by Natural England include "securing the design, maintenance and management of a full Sustainable Drainage System" and a "scheme to control firewater from being able to run-off into the Solent and Southampton Water SPA, River Test SSSI, or Lower Test Valley SSSI sites."

The application site is approximately 2.9 hectares of open field comprising pastures where horses are currently grazing.

The facility will include 32 battery storage units, 16 power control units, a substation, an auxiliary transformer, and two control rooms.

The facility will connect to the nursing substation via an underground cable, operating automatically and monitored remotely without permanent human presence.

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The application had received 19 letters of objection from residents, as well as the Romsey and District Society Natural Environment Committee, Hampshire Ornithological Society (HOS).

During the April 8 planning committee, on behalf of the HOS, Alisson Fisher said the development will destroy protected habitats and create a “horrendous industrialised site”.

Mrs Fisher added: "I ask you to consider the residents’ points of view and respect our desire to protect this beautiful area where we live."