Cochno Battery Farm gets go ahead - Action to Protect Rural Scotland

A Battery Storage facility on a 29 Hectare Green Belt site near to the famous Cochno Stone in Faifley has just been consented by Scottish Government. APRS Objected to the 560 MW Whitehall Battery Storage facility which had been heavily opposed locally and will impact on the landscape of an important array of Neolithic cup and ring marked rocks.

Previous blog

Find out more about why the area is so special and the impact this development will have as well as our objection letter and letter to Historic Environment Scotland

Read our Feb 2024 blog

Battery storage applications are coming in thick and fast across Scotland, and Green Belts are some of the most affected areas. In three days last week the Scottish Government approved seven battery energy storage system (BESS) projects representing over 2.3 GW of energy storage capacity, including a 650MW project in Innerwick East Lothian.

This proposal at Cochno is one of those seven. We objected to this development on the basis that it is within the Green Belt, within an important Archeological landscape, and is close to one of the most important and extensive sites of cup and ring marked rocks in Britain, that it will impact on Core Paths and Woodland, and that it was not allocated to an industrial use in the development plan. It is also very close to homes and impacts on an important area for recreation from people from West and East Dunbartonshire and Glasgow.

STV Reported on the Decision

APRS statement on the Whitehall decision.

Dr Kat Jones, Director of APRS said:

“It is shocking that a Green Belt site with such significant archaeological heritage, and of such importance for local people and visitors, can get permission for a huge and damaging battery storage facility. If this site can get permission for battery storage, then nowhere is safe.

“This site is only a few hundred meters from the Cochno stone, one of the most important neolithic carved stones in Britain, and has 5000-year old cup and ring-marked rocks along the boundaries, only metres from the battery storage.

“Battery storage is being given planning permission in Green Belts, woodlands, treasured local countryside, and right next to irreplaceable archeological sites, despite the fact that there is already four times as much battery storage in the planning system than is required by 2030. [1]

“The Energy Consents Unit at Scottish Government has not refused a single Battery Storage application. Ever. [2] In the wake of this egregious decision we are calling for a reconsideration of policy regarding battery storage to ensure that storage is consented in the most appropriate locations, avoiding Green Belts and sites of importance for nature or heritage, and that there is an assessment of the need for the installation before permission is granted.”

[1] According to Scottish Government FoI, Meeting Net Zero in 2050 Battery Energy Storage System (BESS): EIR release, 5.9 to 6.4GW of battery storage could be required in Scotland by 2030, and between 6.4 and 7.6GW by 2045.

As of April 2025 there is 23.9GW of Battery Storage in the planning system. 2.3GW were consented last week.

[2] APRS has been looking into permissions given for battery storage by the Energy Consents unit at the Scottish Government, which deals with applications for the biggest installations, and, of 106 applications received since the first one came in 2022, they have consented 36 and refused none. The remaining applications are in various stages of the planning process and one has been withdrawn. Information taken from the ECU portal https://www.energyconsents.scot/ApplicationSearch.aspx?T=0