In this update

• Latest on the planning application
• Great News – BESS rejected!
• Request to lobby MPs and Councillors
• Date for your diary – Heritage Walk
• Date for your diary – Drop in session in Cowpe

Latest on the planning application

The planning application is now live at Rossendale with reference number 2025/0267 and at Rochdale with the reference 25/00680/FUL.

There is some confusion about deadlines, initially stated as 30 days and recorded as such on the portals. However, we have been told by planning officers that objections can be raised right up to the decision date. Our advice is to ignore this qualification and object as soon as you can. The Rossendale portal publishes objections in full so you can find a wealth of detail to help you write your own objection.

Procedurally, we have identified several problems with the way the over 200 documents are provided on the two portals and also on Cubico’s site. It is currently very difficult to navigate the documents or find out if new documents have been added or amendments made. For these and many other reasons several of us have written to the Planning Casework Unit and asked for the application to be called in. This would mean that the application would have to go through a lengthier process providing far more opportunity for the public scrutiny and a proper investigation of the merits or otherwise of the application.

In the meantime we are intending to provide a roadmap for making objections which helps to tie related documents into coherent bundles.

Great News – BESS rejected!

In exciting news, Rossendale Development Control Committee met on Tuesday 2nd September to make a decision about the BESS Planning Application 2024/0501. In a surprising turn of events a last minute appeal by members of our team to the Planning Casework Unit was successful in getting the application called in.

The meeting went ahead but was instructed that a decision to approve could not stand. Then in an even more surprising turn of events, the Development Control Committee rejected the application despite the recommendation by the planning officers to approve! A key reason cited was that the BESS wasn’t really a renewable energy project and was simply set up to charge in periods of low demand (at low cost) and resell in periods of high demand (and high cost). I.e.a money making machine.

The other more significant issue raised was the very real danger to children at Rossendale School who would find it very difficult to evacuate in the case of a major fire at the BESS.

Thanks to all those who attended the meeting and particularly those who provided planning committee members with excellent material explaining why the application needed to be rejected. Also thanks to the member of public who spoke eloquently against the proposal.

Request to lobby MPs and Councillors

We have continued to lobby our MPs to support our objections to Scout Moor 2. Unfortunately, we have been unsuccessful, despite providing a wealth of evidence against it. It seems that both MPs will follow Net Zero policy at any cost to our landscape, environment, heritage or amenity. It seems a little more than odd that saving the planet requires so much destruction.

Many recent articles in the press have shown that the public is more aware than ever that wind energy is expensive and insecure. They are increasingly coming to understand that it requires all sorts of support mechanisms to make it viable. Once the total system costs are factored in, it becomes obvious why our energy bills are only going in one direction (see recent OFGEM announcement).

We have not given up trying to influence our MPs and Councillors and we do encourage you to write to them personally. They know that their electoral chances at the next election are looking increasingly shaky.

If you have 5 minutes please use our template letter or craft your own, to remind them that they are supposed to be serving their constituents, not a lunatic Net Zero policy at any cost.

It doesn’t have to be a long email – simply make it abundantly clear how support for Cubico is likely to play out at upcoming elections.

Many thanks to all those who have already written – let’s keep it up.

Date for your diary – Heritage Walk

As part of the Stone and Story events, join us on the final day of the festival, Sunday 21st September 2025, for a special gathering at “Top of Leach”. This will be a scenic walk to seek out the panoramic views across the South Pennine Moors, including Saddleworth, the Peak District, Manchester and Cheshire. If Cubico are successful then these views will be destroyed for at least a generation.

The walk will highlight the remarkable story of the Cotton Famine Road, laid by hand during the 1860s by Rochdale’s unemployed millworkers amid the American Civil War—a poignant reminder of local endurance and solidarity. At 474 metres above sea level, Top of Leach offers stirring vistas. On clear days, you may see as far as Darwen Tower and the West Pennine Moors. Skylarks and curlews may accompany you.

A group photoshoot is planned around 12:30, weather permitting—feel free to bring a picnic to enjoy with fellow walkers.

The starting point for the 2 hour walk is Catley Lane Head, Rooley Moor Road, Rochdale, Greater Manchester, OL12 6BN.

Full details here.

Date for your diary – Drop-in session in Cowpe

What’s your view on Scout Moor 2?

Everyone is welcome to drop in for a chat where we’ll provide a warts-and-all update on the application and really listen to your views.

The event will take place on Wednesday 8th October 2025 between 18:30 and 20:30.

The venue will be the Cowpe Community Hall, Cowpe Road, BB4 7AE.