A PROPOSED battery storage facility in Aspatria could get the green light next week when the planning application is considered by councillors.

Members of Cumberland Council's planning committee are due to meet at the Civic Centre in Carlisle on Wednesday (September 4) from 10.30am.

Net Zero Seventeen is hoping to build the facility on agricultural land at West Farm in West Street, off the A596, and, if approved by planners at Cumberland Council, it could power almost 162,000 homes.

It is one of just two applications due for consideration on the meeting agenda and members will also be updated on the results of six planning appeals.

Council officers have recommended that planning permission should be granted subject to a number of conditions.

The development would include a Battery Energy Storage System (BESS), together with associated cable route and infrastructure, site levelling works, site access, landscaping, and ancillary works.

According to a planning statement, the proposed development would comprise a form of "carbon zero energy storage to balance energy supply to the National Grid".

It adds: "Its grid balancing mechanism specifically forms part of the renewable energy infrastructure being developed to meet the UK’s obligations under the Renewable Energy Directive."

The report states that the development would facilitate the storage of electrical energy to power approximately 161,897 homes for two hours and it adds: "This equates to 129 per cent of the total households within Cumberland."

The site covers a total area of 7.4 hectares, or 18.3 acres, and it would operate for 40 years and according to the report it would be decommissioned with the removal of the storage facility from the site.

However, according to a heritage assessment, there is uncertain potential for archaeological remains of prehistoric date to be present within the site given the possibility of an enclosure/castle being either prehistoric or medieval. It adds: "Any archaeological remains of prehistoric date have the potential to be of regional significance.

"There is an uncertain potential for archaeological remains of Romano-British date to be identified within the site given the confusion over the alignment of the Roman road.

"The results of the geophysical survey have not indicated the presence of the Roman road within the site. Should any archaeological remains of this date be identified within the site they have the potential to be of regional significance.

"There is low potential for archaeological remains of early medieval date to be present within the site. There is an uncertain potential for archaeological remains of medieval date to be present within the site as the presence of a possible castle has not been definitively proven.

"Should the presence of a castle be confirmed it has the potential to be of regional or possibly even national significance. The geophysical survey has confirmed the presence of an enclosure at this location but it has not been possible to confidently assign a period to this feature."

The report concludes: "It is anticipated that a programme of further archaeological investigations will be required to better define the presence and survival of archaeological remains within the site."