MP visits proposed power plant site with local campaigners

South Lakes MP Tim Farron has joined local campaigners to visit the site of a proposed new power plant and energy storage site in Old Hutton. Tim has said that the proposal is "clearly inappropriate" and has vowed to oppose it

The plans, but forward by developer Statera, would see a gas-fired power station built alongside industrial battery storage units to store energy.

There has been an outcry from local residents opposed to the plan. Tim met with local campaigners to hear their concerns and see for himself the proposed site.

The proposals will come before the South Lakeland District Council planning committee at the end of September.

Tim said: "These plans are clearly inappropriate for this site. I will continue to campaign alongside local residents against these plans.

"With the site just a few hundred metres from the local primary school, there are serious questions that need to be answered about the health and safety impact of these plans. Local residents are also understandably concerned about the effect this power plant would have on the local environment and on flood risk, not to mention the enormous disruption that would be caused by extra traffic during construction.

"If this site is of strategic importance to the national energy grid as a whole, then it should be treated as a national planning matter. The developers should not try to avoid scrutiny by sneaking these plans through at a local level."