Being brought forward by Abei Energy Group Ltd, the proposed 100MW development is located 2.5 km north of Stenton on approximately four acres of land currently in arable agricultural use.

The site is bordered by the B3670 to the west and is well screened by existing trees and vegetation to the north. Additional planting measures would be implemented to further reduce any impact on the landscape while increasing biodiversity.

At a meeting of East Lothian Council’s Planning Committee on Tuesday, committee members unanimously agreed to submit an objection to the project.

Abei Energy Group Ltd has submitted an application to the Scottish Government’s Energy Consents Unit and East Lothian Council is a statutory consultee. The application includes a compound containing 80 energy storage containers, which are intended to provide electricity for export to the grid from batteries which will store surplus electricity to be fed into the grid when required at short notice.

The council’s consultation response was called off the Committee Expedited List by Councillor Collins to allow for a full discussion at committee due to local concerns over the safety of the site. East Lothian Council received one objection to the proposed development, which cited loss of agricultural land, detrimental visual effects, fire and pollution risk and noise at surrounding properties.

While the principle of the Pitcox BESS is acceptable, said it East Lothian Council objects to the proposal for various reasons including lack of information and assessment within the Landscape and Visual Impact Assessment; likely loss of hedgerows important to the character of the area; absence of a cumulative noise impact assessment; insufficient information on surface water flooding; and concerns around proposed access arrangements for the site not meeting the council’s visibility requirements.

An additional objection was added – that there was insufficient information on flood protection measures – following a proposal by Councillor McIntosh which was unanimously approved. The council has recommended that the applicant is offered the opportunity to amend its proposal and to submit further information to overcome these objections and that the council should be consulted on any amended proposals. If the council’s objections are not resolved then the application will likely go to a public inquiry.