Planning application · Battery storage · Braintree

Surmer Hall, Church Walk - Solar Farm & Battery Storage

Awaiting Construction22 MWApplication 23/02705/FULSubmitted 1 November 2023Granted 4 December 2024

In the evidence packnearest refused scheme •• kmShown in the pack

The application

Application number: 23/02705/FUL
Planning authority: Braintree
County or area: Suffolk
Nation: England
Technology: Battery storage (Co-located with RE)
Capacity: 22 MW
Status: Awaiting Construction (Planning Permission Granted)
Operator or applicant: Boultbee Brooks (Renewables Rowley Hill) Limited
Location: South Of Sturmer Hall Church Walk Sturmer, CB9 7BS

Timeline

1 November 2023 Planning application submitted
4 December 2024 Planning permission granted
4 December 2027 Planning permission expired Date as recorded in the register

Preview of the planning evidence pack for this site

The pack for this site lists 5 comparable battery incidents in the United Kingdom, grid-scale only, nearest first. The nearest is EIR-0109, Fire in single battery unit at Thurrock BESS under construction, 63 km from this site.

Reference	Year	Incident	From the site	Severity
EIR-0109	2025	Fire in single battery unit at Thurrock BESS under construction	63 km	Significant
EIR-0584	2026	Fire in a battery container at Rufford Colliery BESS, Rainworth, caused by a short circuit in NMC cells	160 km	Significant
EIR-0058	2025	Fire in two battery containers at Cirencester Hybrid Solar Farm, Gloucestershire	168 km	Significant
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The first 3 rows as the pack shows them. The other 2 are in the pack, each with its distance, sources and the fire service guidance it bears on.

The map

Summary for this site

This part of the pack is written for this site and opens with the pack. This part of the pack is written for this site and opens with the pack. This part of the pack is written for this site and opens with the pack.

Paragraphs for the planning statement

In the full pack

What the planning evidence pack adds for this application

The pack is made for Surmer Hall, Church Walk - Solar Farm & Battery Storage from the register and the government planning database: every comparable incident, nearest first, with its sources; the schemes refused, withdrawn or taken to appeal within 40 km, your council first; and the fire service guidance each incident bears on. One fixed, dated file, as a PDF, a web page and a Word document.

Incidents within 50 km: •••
Nearest recorded incident: ••••••
UK grid-scale incidents, with NFCC notes: ••••
Schemes refused within 40 km: •••
Nearest refused scheme: ••••••••••••
Appeals within 40 km: •••
Decisions in Braintree: ••••••••
Sites of a similar size, worldwide: ••••
NFCC guidance points: ••••••••
Sources and citations: ••••••••••

Launch price: £145 until 31 October (normally £295). By email in minutes. The order form arrives filled in from this application.

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Want to see a pack first? Download a sample pack (PDF). It is an example pack for a 50 MW battery project in Lincolnshire, with every section and the first rows of each table.

The site's own page has its map, the energy sites around it and anyone can follow it for changes. Every planning application. Every application in Braintree.

Data updated 3 August 2026 from the Renewable Energy Planning Database (DESNZ), published quarterly.

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0 (Renewable Energy Planning Database, Department for Energy Security and Net Zero). The dataset. The register adds only the incidents and the counts.