Plans to launch new electric community car club near Worksop

Independent renewable energy firm Banks Renewables is looking to create the energy park at a 116-hectare site west of Todwick Road Industrial Estate, Dinnington.

It hopes to have an installed capacity of up to 49 megawatts, along with a 50MW battery storage facility.

As part of the company’s policy of delivering benefits to the communities where it is based, the project would bring an annual package of community benefits totalling £50,000 - more than £2 million over its lifetime – to support local community projects.

The electric community car club would see an electric vehicle and charging infrastructure made available for Dinnington residents to book and use at minimal cost.

Jamilah Hassan, The Banks Group community relations manager, said: “We’ve looked at the operations of other community car clubs around the UK to see how their ways of working might be adopted to the particular needs of the Dinnington area, and know transport and access to services and employment are important issues for local people.

“Creating an environmentally friendly, sustainable car club which enables both drivers and non-drivers to access essential services at a low cost would be a significant benefit to the community.

“Our initial investigations have confirmed this is something the Common Farm Solar Energy Park could help bring into being.

“More work needs to be carried out on developing the finer details of how the club might run and sharing information across the community about how it might work, but there is clear evidence of community demand for such a project and we’re very encouraged at the prospect of initiating something that would benefit local people in lots of different ways.

“The Common Farm Solar Energy Park will deliver a range of environmental, economic, social and energy security benefits, and we’re very encouraged by the positive community response we’ve had in response to our proposals."

A planning application for the project was submitted to Rotherham Council last summer and is expected to come before its planning committee in the coming weeks.