Building to be demolished for new battery centre

The building will be demolished to make way for a battery storage centre

Plans to knock down a derelict building and replace it with a battery storage centre have been given the go-ahead.

The block - in an industrial area on Torrington Avenue, Coventry - previously housed LPG cars but is now empty.

A scheme to replace it with 16 battery storage units, a 15-metre high telecoms mast and a 132kv substation was approved by Coventry City Council on Monday.

In a report, the authority stressed the site’s “extremely poor” state and described the block as “clearly structurally unsafe”.

A significant amount of waste and fly-tipping is piling up in the area, a planning officer said.

They added that there was a clear presence of asbestos in the building’s fabric and the site is believed to have a notable amount of the hazardous material.

Environmental health officers said there was a high risk of land contamination due to the building’s previous use and the likelihood of there being asbestos.

An intrusive investigation would be needed before the building is knocked down, they said.

The new battery plant will contain 2.5m high battery storage units which resemble shipping containers, according to plans submitted by agents Aardvark EM.

The system will mainly be used to give the local network standby electricity storage to prevent blackouts when there is high demand.

The scheme’s ability to increase the efficiency of the city’s energy network added significant weight to the recommendation to approve the scheme, planning officers said.

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service which covers councils and other public service organisations.