Plans for two more battery storage sites in the Staffordshire Moorlands are set to be approved.

Enso Green Holdings X has submitted plans for a battery energy storage system (BESS) on Green Belt land at Greenfields, off Thorney Edge Road near Bagnall.

The application has received 49 objections, with opponents raising concerns over the destruction of the landscape, loss of farmland and the impact on wildlife.

Meanwhile, Tean Leys Energy Storage wants to build a BESS in a separate development at Tean Leys Farm, near Lower Tean.

Both applications have been recommended for approval, with planning officers saying the need for storage sites to support the move to renewable energy counts in their favour. Planning committee members will consider the applications when they meet on Thursday.

The Greenfields development would consist of 12 groups of up to 22 battery containers, alongside 11 inverter/transformer containers and other components, with an underground connection to the Cellarhead substation, 400m away.

It would be surrounded by security and acoustic fencing, with 1.5m high bunds proposed to the south and west to assist with screening. The facility would be in place for 40 years, after which all the structures and hardstanding would be removed.

Objectors have raised a raft of concerns, including the fire risk and the cumulative impact of similar developments in the area.

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Cheddleton and Werrington parish councils have also objected to the application, due to its location in the Green Belt and the lack of a strategic plan for BESS schemes.

The report to the planning committee notes that seven previous BESS applications have been submitted on sites close to the Cellarhead substation in the past four years.

Four of these have been approved, while three were refused. Planning officers say that the development represents inappropriate development in the Green Belt, but that very special circumstances exist to make it acceptable.

The report states: "The requirement to tackle the effects of climate change and move towards a net zero future is an international, national and regional priority.

"A primary component of this ambition is the decarbonisation of the energy sector. The role that installations for low carbon or renewable energy technologies which contribute towards this, regardless of their scale, cannot be underestimated.

"Battery storage is one such technology which is essential to meeting these targets and has a critical role in achieving net zero.

"The development would allow for greater flexibility in the energy system in allowing for supply and demand to be more effectively managed leading to a more secure and efficient energy system.

"As such, the proposed development would contribute towards moving towards net zero and would deliver clear environmental, social and economic benefits in this respect."

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Officers say that these benefits attract 'substantial weight' in the overall planning balance.

The Tean Leys Farm application, in contrast, has only received one objection. The site, next to the A50, includes land which has planning permission for a 132kV substation, approved as part of a large solar farm development in 2024.

Tean Leys Energy Storage is proposing a 70MW storage facility, which would be connected to both the new substatation and one in Upper Tean. It would consist of 112 battery containers and various other structures.

The objector raises concerns over safety and the impact on wildlife, while Checkley Parish Council has called for fire risk assessments to be carried out before planning permission is granted.

Planning officers say consider the proposed development to be acceptable, noting the 'substantial benefits' in relation to tackling climate change.

The application site includes a small parcel of land within neighbouring East Staffordshire Borough Council. Planning officers have recommended the application for approval subject to no objection being received from the borough council or Staffordshire Wildlife Trust.

The planning committee will consider both applications when it meets at 2pm on Thursday.