East Havering Data Centre – Setting the record straight.

Councillor Graham Williamson, Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Inward Investment today writes in the Havering Daily in response to the recent article on the Data Centre being built in the borough.

I’m writing in response to the feature in the Havering Daily concerning the proposed Data Centre.  It is no surprise that many share our excitement at the prospect of Havering potentially landing an investment of this scale. It would bring significant economic, employment, fiscal and biodiversity impacts while at the same time improving data security, energy grid capacity and agricultural yields.

However, the report presented a few matters of concern for me. The report mentioned agricultural land lost, the need for consultation and suggesting the decision is being taken out of the control of the Strategic Planning Committee.  In the spirit of openness, please let me set the record straight:

• The article says Local Development Orders are made by the Council and not by the Local Planning Authority, quoting the Local Government Association. This isn’t accurate since the decision to proceed will be made – if they determine it appropriate – by the Strategic Planning Committee, following the comprehensive planning process as set by the Local Planning Authority. 

• That decision would be made with the full consultation required by law. Therefore, suggesting that this project will move ahead without public consultation – as the headline to the article stated – is simply incorrect.  This minimum level of consultation will be supplemented by additional public consultation and will be undertaken only at the right point in the planning process and when the plans are developed in sufficient detail to allow the public to make meaningful comment.  At this stage, the developers are working on fly-through simulations which will allow the public to experience how the development will feel and how it will sit comfortably within the landscape. Our residents deserve this and we won’t rush this process.

• In terms of the agricultural land use, this project would indeed take around 472 acres of land out of traditional agricultural production, but not all of that land would be built upon. 
  • Over half (280 acres) could be ‘re-wilded’ to allow a net increase in biodiversity across the site. Land which is currently inaccessible to the public could become a dedicated open-access ecology park in perpetuity with a centre delivering exciting educational opportunities. Anyone worried about the loss of agricultural production capacity will be excited to learn that the established partnership with the University of Leicester would seek to use the ecology park as part of an environmental impact monitoring laboratory to allow agricultural yields to be improved globally by 14-20%. In a world with an increasing population, this can be Havering’s gift. In Havering alone, this increased yield will more than offset the small production capacity lost to the development.  
  • The project however doesn’t stop there.  It also promises to use the energy recovered from the data centre to feed a state-of-the-art vertical farming unit.  Vertical farming stacks crop production to allow fruit and vegetables which otherwise might need to be flown around the world to be produced right here for consumers in Havering.  Vertical farming yield can be 40 times that of traditional horticulture.  Since we expect this facility in Havering to be around 10 acres, this could deliver 400 acres’ worth of produce of high-value crops – far more valuable than the production of the land while at the same time reducing food miles.  Some studies have shown even higher yields.

There is just one final point I would like to make, and this is not one that was raised at the Strategic Planning Committee. We all recognise that data centres are huge consumers of energy.  Naturally, we will be insisting that it use only carbon-neutral sources of energy but we are also discussing ways in which the energy which might otherwise be lost can be captured and reused.  Investment in the local grid infrastructure could open up connectivity for 1.1GW of renewal power – that’s the equivalent of two Battersea Power Stations!

The data centre is a fantastic opportunity for Havering – we should not let it pass us by. My personal preference is for our borough and our residents to reap the benefits of this project. However, ultimately it will be for the planning process to decide and that will only happen once the planning authority have sought the views of residents through the usual consultation process.

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