Inshes and Milton of Leys community council's serious concerns over Caley Thistle's battery storage scheme at Fairways
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Inshes and Milton of Leys Community Council has said they have “serious and legitimate concerns” over the proposed creation of the battery storage farm on the former golf course behind the Fairways business centre.
The £40 million project – in conjunction with Caley Thistle’s shirt sponsor Intelligent Land Investments (ILI) for a battery storage scheme – is seeking planning permission for the 1.7 hectare site.
Highland Council deferred the application at the south planning committee for a site visit amid doubts whether or not the development would be a positive addition or not for the area as a whole.
Officials withdrew an objection over drainage after details were provided but that still left three grounds for refusal – loss of open space, noise pollution and the insufficient support for biodiversity.
Slackbuie is the community council responsible for the area but it did not respond to requests for comment and made no objection to the original planning application but the neighbouring Inshes and Milton of Leys Community Council did so.
Though technically not regarded by the planning authority as a stakeholder, Inshes and Milton of Leys Community Council argued the development poses a risk to their residents.
Their first concern is that due to historical incidents with other battery storage facilities the development poses a potential risk to residents in the area and the second is the loss of green space within the Inner Moray Firth Local Development Plan (IMFLDP).
On the grounds of safety they cited “serious accidents” that have occurred elsewhere “across the globe” including one in Liverpool in 2020.
The community council said: it “resulted in a toxic plume of smoke engulfing the surrounding area and debris being blasted up to 75 feet away. This facility had also been built near a residential area and it took the fire service 59 hours to extinguish.”
They added that Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service afterwards introduced nine general procedures they recommend developers follow when constructing such facilities.
Perhaps the most pertinent is: “Ensuring the BSS (battery storage scheme) is located with due considerations of impact on communities, sites and infrastructure. Prevailing wind directions should be factored into the location of the BSS to minimise the impact of a fire involving lithium-ion batteries due to the toxic fumes produced.”
The community council said: “The proposed site is close to both residential and retail properties, is upwind of residential districts of Cradlehall, Drakies, and Inshes, as well as Drakies and Inshes primary schools, Inshes retail park, and Raigmore Hospital, placing these at risk from a toxic cloud in the event of an explosion and fire.
“The proposed site is totally inappropriate. The facility should be situated either in open country or on an industrial site where any thermal runaway and fumes from a fire would be isolated.”
Then there is the issue of the loss of green space which “equally importantly, the community council is seriously concerned about the use of this land in contravention of its clear identification as green space on the IMFLDP2.
“This plan identifies this area as ‘…the green network connections and undeveloped green backcloth that help to define the setting and character of the city and provide the entrance to more open countryside to the south.’
“By allowing a planning application for development of this green space land makes a mockery of all the time and work gone into developing this IMFLDP2 plan and provides little confidence that this plan, which takes into account the needs of our whole community, will be followed.”
