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Land At Lower Penn Wolverhampton

24/01102/FULMMajor Full ApplicationRefused
Full

Refused on 12 December 2025

Delegated (officer decision)4 reasons for refusal

Proposal

The temporary development of a battery energy storage system (BESS) with ancillary infrastructure to provide balancing services to the electricity grid

Received
23 December 2024
Decision level
Delegated (officer decision)
Public comments
102
Ward
Pattingham, Trysull, Bobb & L Penn
  1. Received23 Dec
  2. Validated14 Jan
  3. Consult.4 Dec
  4. Target15 Apr
  5. Decided12 Dec

Decided in 332 days (council typically 56)

About this application

This is a full planning application at Land At Lower Penn Wolverhampton. South Staffordshire has handled 1,353 applications of this type. This one was decided in 354 days, 43 weeks longer than South Staffordshire's typical decision time. There are no previous applications recorded at this address. In the past year there have been 64 applications across Pattingham, Trysull, Bobb & L Penn. We hold 437 applications in total for the WV4 postcode area.

88% of full applications at South Staffordshire District Council were approved. Across all application types, the council typically decides in about 8 weeks (median).

Based on decided applications received in the last 3 years.Planning something similar? See what gets approved on your street

Why it was refused

  1. The proposed development would introduce visually intrusive and uncharacteristic features into an open rural landscape, resulting in moderate to substantial adverse effects on landscape character and visual amenity. The harm would not be fully mitigated by the proposed landscaping in the short to medium term. The proposal is therefore contrary to Paragraph 187 of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) and Core Strategy Policies EQ4, EQ12, and Core Policy 4.
  2. The development would cause less than substantial harm to the setting of Langley Hall Farm (Grade II listed) and part of the Lower Penn Conservation Area through the introduction of large-scale engineered structures that erode the rural setting of these heritage assets. The proposal is therefore contrary to Paragraphs 212-215 of the NPPF and Core Strategy Policy EQ3.
  3. The application fails to demonstrate that noise impacts have been adequately assessed or mitigated. Critical information requested by Environmental Health, including acoustic barrier specifications, noise reduction values, plant orientation, and justification for proposed mitigation, has not been provided. The proposal therefore conflicts with Paragraph 198 of the NPPF and Core Strategy Policy EQ9.
  4. The application fails to demonstrate that drainage and flood risk can be managed appropriately and does not provide sufficient detail to confirm that flood risk both on- site and to third parties will not occur. The proposal is therefore contrary to Core Strategy Policy EQ7.

From the council's decision notice.

Application details

Postcode
WV4 4UQ
Application type
Major Full Application
Scale / size
Large
Parish
LOWER PENN

Planning application dates

Date validated
14 January 2025
Consultation expiry
4 December 2025
Consultation start
5 November 2025
Consultation end
4 December 2025
Neighbour consultation start
12 December 2025
Last date for comments
12 December 2025
Target decision date
15 April 2025

Planning decision

Statutory period
91 days

Publicity

Last advertised
22 January 2025
Advertisement expiry
12 February 2025
Site notice start
17 January 2025
Site notice end
7 February 2025

Additional information

Planning Portal ID
PP-13628188
Documents
61
Constraints
6

Site constraints

Checking the site
2/3
Council recordsAppealsFlood risk

Designations at the address point. Ones next to the site may also apply.

  • Green belt: South Staffordshire
  • Flood zone 1: Low probability (rivers and sea)
Also checked, none recorded (23)

flood storage areas, conservation areas, listed buildings, Article 4 directions, tree preservation orders, scheduled monuments, World Heritage Sites, World Heritage Site buffer zones, registered parks and gardens, registered battlefields, Heritage at Risk entries, nutrient neutrality catchments, national parks, National Landscapes, SSSIs, Special Areas of Conservation, Special Protection Areas, Ramsar sites, ancient woodland, national nature reserves, local nature reserves, heritage coasts and brownfield registers.

A guide only, from official open data; it is not a planning search. Flood zones cover rivers and sea, not surface water.

Data © Crown copyright and others · sources and licences

Contains public sector information from planning.data.gov.uk (MHCLG and local planning authorities), licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. © Crown copyright and database right 2026.

© Historic England 2026. Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. The Historic England GIS Data contained in this material was obtained on 2026-11-03. The most publicly available up to date Historic England GIS Data can be obtained from HistoricEngland.org.uk.

© Natural England copyright. Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right 2026.

© Environment Agency copyright and/or database right 2026. All rights reserved. Flood Map for Planning, Open Government Licence v3.0.

Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right 2026.

Source: Office for National Statistics licensed under the Open Government Licence v.3.0. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026.

Source: South Staffordshire

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