The plans would have seen a 4338 square metre battery energy storage system (BESS) built on agricultural land adjacent to Dyche Lane, which links Coal Aston in Dronfield with Sheffield.
However, following an appeal by applicant YLEM Energy against the original rejection in June last year, the proposals have now been dismissed for a second time.
Planning Inspector L N Hughes said in the decision notice that the storage site would represent “inappropriate development” – effecting the Green Belt, agricultural land, and character and appearance of the area.
She added that it would conflict with Green Belt provisions of the North East Derbyshire Local Plan, Dronfield Neighbourhood Plan, and the most recent iteration of the government’s National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF).
Following the decision today, Mark Foster, Dronfield Town councillor for the Coal Aston ward, said: “Despite recent changes to legislation softening the protection of greenbelt the Inspector has arrived at the right decision for our community.
“This industrial development would have been a huge blight on our landscape. I am very supportive of new technology such as BESS sites but they must be in the right location.”
He added his “thanks” to residents who had attended the appeal hearing for the “real team effort”.
The appeal hearing took place at North East Derbyshire District Council’s offices in Wingerworth on 27th February, with around two dozen local stakeholders having attended to voice their concerns.
One resident, Charles Hall, who lives overlooking the site, told the appellant’s representatives at the hearing: “I feel like I’m sitting on a ticking time bomb with where you’ve proposed to put it.”
Fire safety was a prominent issue raised by hearing attendees, yet Hughes writes in her report that matters relating to this had been “satisfactorily assessed”. Derbyshire Fire and Rescue Service did not object to the application.
North East Derbyshire District Council opposed the development in statement of case, criticising the development “giving rise to landscape harm” and for its setting within the Moss Valley Conservation area.
Dronfield Town Council also “strongly objected” to the plans, calling it “totally unsuitable for this site”.
YLEM Energy Ltd, meanwhile, had cited £250,000 in annual business rates, local fibreoptic cable upgrades, and capabilities to power 90,000 homes for four hours as benefits of the scheme - which would have been temporarily in place for 40 years.
A similar development was recently approved in New Mills in the Peak District, as well as an application for a site in Calow which is currently awaiting a decision from North East Derbyshire District Council.