Council chiefs have been urged to work on a coordinated strategy for controversial battery energy storage systems (BESS) as three more plants are proposed for North Yorkshire.

Tuesday, 21 January 2025 15:40

By Joe Willis

Preliminary details have been submitted to North Yorkshire Council for a BESS plant at Shipton-by-Beningbrough, north of York, another at nearby Wigginton and a third at Scruton, near Northallerton.

The individual developers have asked council officers if environmental impact assessments are needed ahead of full planning applications being filed.

Plans have recently been submitted for 1GW BESS plants on land at South Kilvington, near Thirsk, and fields near East Rounton, between Northallerton and Yarm.

The county already has a 100MW BESS plant at Drax, near Selby, which was the country’s largest when it went live last year.

While BESS plans on brownfield sites have proved less controversial, local residents have formed a campaign group to oppose the scheme on fields at South Kilvington, with concerns also raised about the East Rounton proposal during the initial consultation process.

In an open letter to mayors and local authority leaders in North Yorkshire and Teesside, Kevin Foster, leader of the Green Party group on North Yorkshire Council, has called for a coordinated strategy on BESS.

In the letter, Cllr Foster said proposed BESS schemes were emerging at “an astonishing rate”.

“There is an opportunity to develop collective expertise for assessing the complex safety and regulatory issues which will emerge during the planning process for these projects.

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