FEARS THAT INDUSTRIAL PROJECT WILL DESTROY SITE RICH IN SONGBIRDS AND BUTTERFLIES

The proposed development is adjacent to a Northern Powergrid substation and near a Tesco superstore

A DARK cloud suddenly looms over a leafy, bird-rich area in North East Lincolnshire.

The 0.68-hectare site, which is located to the south-east of Hewitt's Avenue in New Waltham, near Cleethorpes, has been earmarked for an energy storage depot.

If approved by North East Lincolnshire Council, this will result in the destruction of an 'unofficial' nature reserve - one rich in songbirds, wildflowers, bats bees, plus butterflies and other pollinating insects.

Its special value is firstly that it is almost totally undisturbed and secondly that it forms a 'bridge' between two other key wildlife habitats - an area of mixed woodland and the Buck Beck.

Among the breeding songbirds are blackcap, chiffchaff, whitethroat and lesser whitethroat.                                       

                                 

Dawn chorus - blackcap in full voice in May

Ornithologists hope that, in time and if undisturbed, it might again provide a breeding location for three species - tree pipit, spotted flycatcher and nightingale - long lost to North East Lincolnshire.

The would-be developer is Harmony Energy plc, a renewables company listed on the Stock Market.

Its intention  is to build a battery energy storage system to provide energy balancing services to the national grid. 

Such facilities seek to take energy from the local grid at times of low consumption and store it until such a time where demand is at peak points, when the stored energy is released back to the grid to supplement the existing capacity. 

                                          

Chiffchaff - another of the site's breeding birds

The company's agent states: "The existing site is considered to have low potential in terms of biodiversity, and no significant environmental effects are anticipated

"The development proposed will not, in our opinion, have any significant environmental effects.

"An attractive landscaping scheme  including tree and hedge planting - will be submitted within the full planning application to help to reduce the aesthetic impact of the development and improve biodiversity." 

However, the company acknowledges that the site is designated Open Countryside and is identified by the Greater Lincolnshire Nature Partnership as holding regional wildlife value and is therefore of Nature Conservation Interest.

The Wryneck says: "The applicant’s agent has either never visited this site or is trying to pull the wool over the eyes of North East Lincolnshire  Council’s planning department. Or both. This patch may only be small but, especially at this time of year, it is a paradise for wildlife - butterflies, wildflowers, bats, birds and more. There may even be a lizard or two. But it is a very fragile habitat. Before proceeding with a full planning application, the applicant should, ideally, seek out an alternative location - one that is  less environmentally sensitive. Failing that, the company needs to be sufficiently responsible both to commission an in-depth ecological survey and to welcome an independent scrutiny of such a survey's findings."