Chessington Battery Storage: 240MW Green Belt Plan Filed

A battery energy storage site is being planned on 5.7 hectares of Green Belt farmland at Chessington, opposite Chessington World of Adventures.

The developer is Eku Energy Projects (UK) Ltd. Its planning consultant, Lichfields, filed the first formal paperwork with Kingston Council on 4 August 2026. The council validated it on 20 August and must respond by 10 September.

The company’s own project page describes Chessington BESS as a 240 megawatt, 960 megawatt hour scheme on land off Leatherhead Road, currently in development.

What has actually been submitted

This is not the planning application. It is a request for a screening opinion under regulation 6 of the Environmental Impact Assessment Regulations 2017, reference 26/01808/EIASCR.

A screening opinion settles one question only: whether the council will require a full Environmental Impact Assessment before it will consider the scheme. Eku’s consultants argue it will not. Their letter concludes there are “no likely significant environmental effects which would give rise to the need for EIA”.

The council’s register records no neighbour consultation, no site notice and no press advertisement for this stage. Those come with the planning application itself, which Lichfields says will follow.

The site

The land sits immediately east of the A243 Leatherhead Road, at the southern edge of Chessington. Lichfields’ letter calls it “Land Off Chalky Lane”; the council lists it as land off the A243; Eku gives the postcode as KT9 2NX. All three refer to the same arable field.

From the developer’s own submission:

• the site is 5.7 hectares, of which the working battery compound would take about 2.3 hectares
• most structures would be no more than 5 metres high, but the transformers at the southern end would reach 11 metres
• planning permission is being sought for 45 years, after which the site would be decommissioned and the land returned to agriculture
• access would be taken from the A243, not from Chalky Lane
• the grid connection has already been offered at Chessington Substation, about 800 metres away, reached by underground cable along existing roads
• the field is Grade 3b agricultural land, confirmed by a survey in March 2023, so it is not classed as best and most versatile

What surrounds it matters as much as the field itself:

• Chessington World of Adventures and a Premier Inn, across the A243 to the west
• Chessington and Hook FC’s ground, to the north east
• Barwell Business Park, about 225 metres north
• a commercial dog day care in the adjoining field to the south
• Chessington Wood, a Site of Importance for Nature Conservation, adjoining the eastern and southern boundaries
• a single dwelling and paddocks on Chalky Lane, to the north

Two listed buildings are close by. The Grade II milestone beside the theme park car park (list entry 1080072) is about 38 metres north of the site. Monk’s Cottage (1358434) is about 190 metres east.

The council’s own constraints record for the application also flags a Gatwick airport safeguarding zone, a major accident hazard pipeline and the borough-wide smoke control order.

The Green Belt question was decided here 18 months ago

This would be the second battery site in this corner of the borough, and the first one went all the way to appeal.

In March 2024, Enso Green Holdings applied to build a battery storage system at Land North of Rushett Lane, Malden Rushett, about 350 metres south of the Eku site. Kingston Council refused it on 16 July 2024, on five grounds:

• inappropriate development in the Green Belt, with no very special circumstances
• substantial reduction in the openness of the Green Belt
• an incongruous, visually intrusive addition to the landscape
• failure to demonstrate no harm to great crested newts
• failure to count adjacent watercourses in the biodiversity net gain calculation

Enso appealed. Planning inspector Stuart Willis visited on 11 March 2025 and allowed the appeal on 3 April 2025, granting permission (appeal reference APP/Z5630/W/24/3354873).

He did not disagree that the scheme harmed the Green Belt. He found it was inappropriate development, that it would reduce openness and encroach on the countryside, and that the harm was “moderate”. He then weighed that against the case for the scheme:

“There is a need for improved facilities, such as the appeal scheme proposes and capacity in the south of England due to the higher energy demands in the region.”

The inspector gave “substantial weight” to energy security and to supporting the transition to low carbon energy. Economic and construction benefits got “small weight”. His conclusion was that the other considerations “clearly outweigh the harm”, so very special circumstances existed. He limited the permission to 40 years from the first import of electricity.

A third scheme, at Land North West of Barnett Wood Lane in Leatherhead, was granted on 24 September 2025.

What Eku says

The company held a community drop-in session at the King’s Centre in Chessington on 30 June 2026, and says it will keep consulting as the application develops. Its published case for the site is that it would:

• support energy security by storing surplus electricity and returning it to the grid at peak demand
• generate business rates income for the council
• fund local not-for-profit projects through a benefit sharing programme

On fire, Eku says the design will use spacing between units, gravel surfaces, heating and ventilation control and continuous remote monitoring, built to standards including UL9540 and NFPA 68. The screening letter adds that an Outline Battery Safety Management Plan will be submitted with the full application.

Eku also argues the scheme fits Kingston’s climate commitments, citing the council’s 2019 climate emergency declaration and a borough net zero target of 2038. Those are the company’s characterisations of council policy, not a council statement about this application.

Neither the letter nor the project page gives a figure for construction traffic or for the number of permanent jobs. The inspector in the Rushett Lane case found ongoing jobs at that site would be “limited”.

What it means for you

• Nothing is decided. The council is being asked only whether an Environmental Impact Assessment is required. Its answer is due by 10 September 2026.
• Your chance to comment comes later. The full planning application will carry neighbour letters, a site notice and a press advert. Watch for it on the council’s planning register, and see our Kingston planning page for how to follow an application.
• A refusal may not settle it. The nearest comparable scheme was refused by Kingston and then permitted on appeal, on Green Belt land, on energy security grounds. Any objection that rests only on the Green Belt designation has already been tested here and lost.
• If you want to ask the developer directly, Eku publishes a project line on 0800 707 4183 and an address at contact@ekuenergychessington.com.
• Construction would use the A243. Access is proposed from Leatherhead Road rather than Chalky Lane. We track live closures on our Kingston roadworks and travel page.

Sources

• Application 26/01808/EIASCR, Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames planning register, for the reference, dates, constraints and determination deadline. The site dimensions, heights, 45-year term, grid connection, land classification and surroundings are from the cover letter filed with it by Lichfields on 3 August 2026, available under the Documents tab.
• Chessington BESS project page, Eku Energy, for the 240MW / 960MWh capacity, the 30 June community session, the benefit sharing programme, the fire safety standards and the contact details.
• Application 24/00756/FUL, Land North of Rushett Lane, for the council’s refusal notice of 16 July 2024 and the appeal decision of 3 April 2025 (APP/Z5630/W/24/3354873), both published in full under its Documents tab.
• Companies House for Eku Energy Projects (UK) Limited, company number 13212922, incorporated 19 February 2021.