COUNCILLORS have approves a battery energy storage system on open grassland on the outskirts of an East Lancashire town.

P3P Partners LLP can now build the electricity complex off Balderstone Lane in Burnley subject to signing a legal agreement to pay money for the off-site ecology improvements including planting and path upgrades at Bank Hall Park.

The new development will have 36 battery units, associated transformers, electrical equipment, a switch room, a control room, 2.4 metre high palisade fencing, 4m high acoustic fencing, eight CCTV cameras on 6m high poles, floodlighting on buildings and and access track.

The complex will provide the National Grid with a significant standby generation capacity by storing energy when it is not needed and generating power when it is.

The proposed development of grid-connected battery storage will give critical flexibility to maintain the supply of electricity.

The applicant told planners: "Battery storage technologies are essential to speeding up the replacement of fossil fuels with renewable energy.

"The increasing dependence on wind and solar energy has led to fluctuations in supply.

"Consequently, National Grid estimates that electricity storage will need to increase significantly to support the decarbonisation of the system.

"The applicant has agreed to the costs of planting and sowing to create a meadow at Bank Hall Park."