Claudy: Objections over battery storage yard plan

Some residents in a County Londonderry village are objecting to a plan for a storage yard for industrial batteries.

The plan would mean batteries would be held in large containers on the Gortnaran Road outside Claudy.

Ballyarton Energy Ltd said it would store surplus energy from renewables and reduce dependency on fossil fuels at a time of high energy demand.

Some nearby residents are worried about safety and the effect the site will have on the rural landscape.

Under the proposal a row of separated large battery cells would be installed and associated infrastructure would be erected on the outskirts of the village.

The plan includes two switch rooms, site lighting, a control room, a transformer compound and boundary fencing.

Ballyarton Energy Ltd said the facility would help the "path to net-zero strategy" outlined by Stormont in 2021, which requires 70% of electricity to be generated by renewable sources by 2030.

So far more than 85 people have registered their objections to the proposals.

Ballyarton Energy Ltd said they are aware of the objections to this scheme from some local residents and advised this planning application is still in the consultation stage

They assured that residents' concerns will be fully reviewed and addressed in detail during the course of the planning application.

Laura Gallagher, who lives near the proposed site with her husband and their young son, told BBC Radio Foyle she did not want the plan to go ahead.

It was "not the right location", she said, adding that there was a "potential risk of fires and explosions" with storing batteries of that size near residential properties.

"We have these beautiful green spaces that we have to protect, we owe it to our children and we owe it to the biodiversity of our landscape," she told BBC Radio Foyle.

"If this sort of development is really needed it shouldn't be 300m upstream from the Faughan River.

"It shouldn't be within 100m of someone's home and it shouldn't be near a really popular walking route.

"This is a landscape of high importance and [the site] is overlooked by an area of natural beauty - it is not the right location for a site like this."

Ballyarton Energy Ltd said there would be an automated safety system put in place to reduce the risk of any potential fire on the site.

In its planning application, the company said it would assess the environmental impact of the plan.

It also and said the height and size of the facility was limited so the visual impact would be very small.

East Londonderry MP Gregory Campbell said that residents' views must be taken into account.

"Most people would be very much in favour of the principal of this because we want to try and move away from fossil fuels," said the Democratic Unionist Party politician.

"The key question is the other issue, which is: where do you locate something of the size of this scheme?

"That's where I think local residents' views must be taken into consideration."

Mr Campbell suggested extending the public consultation period until Easter.