Battery Safety Management Plan appeal update
Cleve Hill Solar Park has appealed against the decision by Swale Borough Council not to discharge Requirement 3 of the Development Consent Order made in 2020. The Council’s Planning Committee voted to refuse the proposed Battery Safety Management Plan (BSMP) in February.
The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) has confirmed that the appeal submitted by CHSP is valid and subject to the following timetable:
15 May 2024 - Appeal start date.
30 May 2024 - Deadline for representations from the Discharging Authority (Swale Borough Council) and Statutory Consultees (Health and Safety Executive and Kent Fire and Rescue Service).
13 June 2024 - Deadline for counter-submissions from Cleve Hill Solar Park.
The decision on the appeal will be made by the DESNZ as soon as reasonably practicable after 13 June.
Expert approval for site water drainage.
Two key external bodies have approved water drainage processes on the solar park site.
Both the Environment Agency (EA) and the Lower Medway Internal Drainage Board (IDB) have recently visited the solar park site to review water drainage activities.
The IDB is a public body that manages water levels and ditch maintenance within areas of special drainage need, known as Internal Drainage Districts (IDDs). They maintain the watercourses on the CHSP site and provide consents related to water level management.
During the visit, the IDB checked structures such as culverts that have been created within the drainage ditches and discussed access required for ongoing ditch maintenance.
The EA paid a visit to the CHSP site in May to observe how the site is managing water drainage processes. This includes the four permanent siltbuster machines onsite which intercept and detain run-off, trapping silt through settlement and filtration prior to discharge.
The EA advised the CHSP team to continue the existing remediation measures to prevent discharge of silt contaminated water into the network of drainage ditches as much as possible.