Wiltshire Council will have to pay costs to a renewable energy company after losing an appeal during which it was deemed to have behaved “unreasonably.”

Pelagic Energy launched an appeal after Wiltshire Council failed to determine the outcome of a planning application within the authorised timescale.

The application proposed a battery storage facility on land off Pond Lane in Minety, and was submitted to Wiltshire Council by Pelagic Energy on December 23, 2021.

It was registered as a valid application on January 26, 2022, and given a target determination date of April 27, 2022.

Postponements were agreed with the applicant, the last of which expired on February 28, 2023.

A month later, Pelagic Energy launched the appeal and applied for a full award of costs from the council for the process.

Wiltshire Council said that whilst the original application was being processed, it received five other applications for the development of battery energy storage schemes in the area.

Therefore, the council decided to seek legal advice on whether the necessary Environmental Impact Assessment should cover all sites cumulatively.

However, The Planning Inspectorate has found that there was a significant, 6-month delay between the date it was agreed that legal advice should be sought and the council’s confirmation of their intention to re-screen the proposal.

Although the inspector conceded that requests for legal advice and for further information from the National Grid would result in delays, it concluded that the reasons for the length of the delay were not “satisfactorily explained.”

The report said that whilst the inspector had “sympathy with the council and the staffing shortages it was facing,” they also could see that Wiltshire Council had demonstrated “unreasonable behaviour resulting in unnecessary or wasted expense.”

The Planning Inspectorate has also approved the original application for the battery storage facility in Minety.

Pelagic Energy has now been invited to present Wiltshire Council with details of the costs so that an agreed amount can be reached.

A full award of appeal costs would cover Pelagic Energy’s whole costs for the statutory process, including the preparation of the appeal statement and supporting documentation, as well as the expense of making the costs application.

In its application, it was stated that “all appeal costs are considered unnecessary” and had been incurred due to the council’s “failure” to determine the application and to respond to the appellant's agent.