Shrewsbury: Early Development
Defining and refining, allowing for early engagement with stakeholders and host communities to understand constraints and opportunities.
Current Status
The Shrewsbury Project is currently in early development. This phase seeks to:
- Define and then refine the project.
- Allow for early engagement with stakeholders and host communities.
- Understand constraints and opportunities relating to the development of the project.
The site
The proposed site extends to approximately 7a of agricultural land located just to the south of the Shrewsbury Substation.
It was chosen because it has minimal environmental constraints and is well screened from the surrounding area by the existing railway and canal embankments.
The main body of the site has been identified for BESS and substation with areas being identified for landscaping, drainage and ancillary infrastructure.
Conceptual design
The conceptual design shows the equipment required and the proposed layout for the site.
Landscape and visual amenity
With sensitive layout design and landscaping we aim to reduce any impact on visual amenity as much as possible.
Ecology and habitats
The site does not contain any areas designated for their ecological value, and it would not require the loss of any trees or woodland.
A preliminary ecological appraisal has already been undertaken and has not identified any sensitive habitats that cannot be avoided as part of the development proposal within the site.
Flood risk
The site is not affected by fluvial or surface water flooding currently but projections show it could in the future. The design has taken the long term view into account.
Drainage infrastructure will be proposed to mitigate against any impacts resulting from surface water as a result of the development and to ensure that any increase in runoff is mitigated and attenuated so as to not cause drainage issues elsewhere.
Noise
Noise assessments are already underway to ensure that the design and location of the development takes into account the amenity of local residents.
Loss of agricultural land
At the end of its operational life the BESS will be removed, and the site restored, leading to no permanent loss of agricultural land. As such there would be minimal long-term impact on the existing agricultural land.
Access
Access would be taken direct from Uffington lane.
More detailed access routing for construction vehicles will be assessed at the detailed design stage and construction routing will be subject to further assessment to ensure it minimises the impact on the local community.
Associated FAQs
If you have any questions regarding battery or solar development, or Lower 48 Energy Ltd, please check out these FAQs or get in touch.
Yes, we will ensure compliance with all relevant planning and environmental requirements. In England, projects like ours are regulated by the Planning Inspectorate under the Planning Act 2008, which provides guidelines and best practices for large-scale infrastructure projects. For projects of significant scale, including Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS), the Development Consent Order (DCO) process is followed. This process is designed to streamline the planning and environmental assessments needed for nationally significant infrastructure projects.
We believe that the planning permission should be determined in Q2 or Q3 of 2025, by Shropshire Council.
Our philosophy is to work as far as possible with local businesses. We hope in doing so, we are better at listening to, and modifying our project to accommodate the local community views. We have appointed Berrys, one of Shropshire's leading planning agencies, to assist with our planning application. Berrys have staff, based in Shrewsbury, who are leading the application. To support our application Berrys will use a range of local specialist businesses, for reports on ecology, acoustic and archaeology.
