WESTBURY Town Council has objected to Northacre Renewable Energy’s planning application for an 11-kilometre underground grid connection on the basis that it will have a detrimental effect on nature and the surrounding historic environment.
The planning application shows a trench which would be constructed to carry electricity cable from the proposed ATT site at Northacre Trading Estate to the Southern Electric Power Distribution substation in Frome, crossing from Brook Farm in Westbury through Fairwood, Standerwick and Berkeley.
Westbury Town Council objected on the grounds of Core Policy 50 – Biodiversity and Geodiversity – claiming that the applicant has not demonstrated how they will protect features of nature, conservation and geological value as part of their rationale.
The area involved includes sites of national archeological interest including listed buildings at Brook Farm and Brook Hall and others that may not be currently known of.
Cllr Ian Cunningham said, “It seems to me that, whilst cables are not the most destructive things in the world, it is a lot of land with a lot of archaeological sites on route and no matter how careful you are, you can’t do all of that without harming something.
“I still find myself wondering why it has to go all the way to Frome, I assume somehow it costs less doing it this way to justify why they are proposing it. It just seems like something we could well do without.”
Westbury Gasification Action Group (WGAG), who are campaigning against the ATT plant at Northacre, are pleading for an extension to the public consultation on this application, on the grounds that the full report was not accessible from the date of registration.
The application was registered on the 11th March, and documents were not available until the 22nd March. They also claim that the reports are not equipped with all relevant information needed to make a decision.
Margaret Cavanna of WGAG said, “The fact that there isn’t a nearer suitable grid connection nearby, as there is with other plants built, makes the whole project seem even more ridiculous.”
Comments are currently invited until Friday 26th April by using the planning reference 19/02481/FUL on the Wiltshire Council planning website.
Above: The route of the proposed trench containing the 11-kilometre cable from Westbury to Frome (red line).
