FEARS THAT INDUSTRIAL PROJECT WILL DESTROY SITE RICH IN SONGBIRDS AND BUTTERFLIES

 

The proposed development is on land adjacent to the Northern Powergrid substation

A DARK cloud suddenly looms over a leafy area on the outskirts of Cleethorpes.

The 0.68-hectare site, which is located to the south-east of Hewitt's Avenue in New Waltham, has been earmarked for an energy storage depot.

If approved by North East Lincolnshire Council planners, this will result in the destruction of an 'unofficial' nature reserve - one rich in songbirds, wildflowers, bats, bees, plus butterflies and other pollinating insects.

Its special value is firstly that it is almost totally undisturbed and secondly that it forms a  'bridge' between two other key wildlife habitats - an area of mixed woodland and the Buck Beck.

Among the breeding songbirds are blackcap, chiffchaff, whitethroat and lesser whitethroat which migrate here from Africa in spring.

                                 

Dawn chorus - blackcap in full voice in May

Ornithologists hope that, if undisturbed, it might, in turn,  again provide a breeding location for three species - tree pipit, spotted flycatcher and nightingale - long lost to North East Lincolnshire.

The would-be developer is Harmony Energy plc, a renewables company listed on the Stock Market.

Its intention  is to build a battery energy storage system to provide energy balancing services to the national grid. 

Such facilities seek to take energy from the local grid at times of low consumption and store it until such a time where demand is at peak points, when the stored energy is released back to the grid to supplement the existing capacity. 

The company's agent states: "The existing site is considered to have low potential in terms of biodiversity, and no significant environmental effects are anticipated

"The development proposed will not, in our opinion, have any significant environmental effects linked to the site’s location and environmental characteristics."

It further states: "It is considered that a battery storage development of this size and in this context would not necessarily give rise to significant environmental effects simply due to its size and given the nature of and location of the proposals. 

"An attractive landscaping scheme  including tree and hedge planting - will be submitted within the full planning application to help to reduce the aesthetic impact of the development and improve biodiversity." 

However, the company acknowledges that the site is designated Open Countryside and is identified by the Greater Lincolnshire Nature Partnership as holding regional wildlife value and is therefore of Nature Conservation Interest.

The Grimsby News says: In fairness to the applicant, there is a lot to recommend this project, especially in these energy-depleted times. But this is a very important conservation  site. If we keep  chipping away at habitat, there will be precious little wildlife left, and our borough will be the poorer for it. It would be far better if the proposed battery storage depot were to be located on the other side of the sub-station on an area of chemically-degraded farmland where there would be nil-to-negligible impact on songbirds, butterflies and other creatures and plants that we cherish.