Anesco have submitted another application to build a Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) on the farmland off Chapel Lane. Ref: 23/1286
You can view the application and comment via Walsall’s Planning Portal: Application Details

Despite their previous application being refused by Walsall Council earlier this year, this application is 50% bigger. It claims the BESS needs to be away from brownfield sites and residential areas (to reduce their costs), yet there are other approved proposals in nearby areas. Sandwell has approved similar schemes in Yew Tree, Hill Top, and other places, so there is no need to encroach into the Green Belt.

Our main concerns are:

• The site is in the Green Belt, and the Great Barr Conservation Area.
• The site is good quality agricultural farmland.
• It is environmentally important for wildlife and protected species.

Road Safety

We have also raised the following concerns with Sandwell’s Highways Department.

Is Chapel Lane suitable for 40t HGVs that are 16m long and 2.5m wide when there is a 7.5t weight restriction for the lane?

Most HGVs during the six-month construction phase would be around 11 tonnes, but the heaviest load will be around 110 tons, and they will not be electric HGVs like the one above.

There are expected to be 380 trips along the lane over a 36 to 40 week period. This will result in three or four two-way vehicle movements per day. The HGVs will be expected to “pull up away from the site” and turn right onto Chapel Lane from the slip road. This means the slip road between Arran Close and the filter into Wilderness Lane is the only stretch of road where the HGVs could pull up.  

This slip road is used by buses and long HGVs will also restrict access for residents on that part of the Birmingham Road. 

Traffic will be stopped to ensure that the HGVs are the only vehicles using Chapel Lane when they go to and from the site. This will cause a lot of disruption as the turning into Chapel Lane is in constant use.