Local residents huge concerns over Data Centre planning application and the costly environmental impact it will have on the community.
‘The Campaign for the Protection of Rural England (CPRE)has said it is ‘appalled’ that the council is looking on this scheme favourably. We believe other environmental groups will agree that it is not acceptable.‘
Last week wildlife charities issued statements to all political parties stating how our wildlife is declining and in desperate need of help. Biodiversity has been drastically reduced due to habitat loss and numerous other reasons.
Havering Friends of the Earth today share the following piece after council plans to build a data centre on Green Belt land.
We are very concerned indeed that LBH has decided to consider an application to build a Data Centre on Green Belt land, and that it is considering the application through a Local Development Order, rather than a full Planning Application.
There are many aspects of the application that are worrying. Here are our main concerns, and we believe that there are many more which could be raised.
We asked for a full Planning Application, and are very unhappy indeed that the LDO route has been chosen. To do this for a major development on Green Belt land seems wrong to us.
1. The use of Green Belt Land:
We do not accept that the proposed Data Centre is an ‘exceptional’ case such as to justify the damage to the natural environment. It is acknowledged in the applicant’s presentation that there is a SINC (site of interest for nature conservation) on the site it wants to occupy. This must be preserved, along with the green environment on the site.
The benefits will be primarily to companies that handle large amounts of data. The promise of jobs is not likely to benefit local people, and we understand that most data centres outlive their usefulness in 9/10 years.
The large number of jobs cited is misleading: there may be many workers involved in the construction phase, but after that only a small number will be needed to run the centre. Moreover, there is a shortage of people qualified to run such centres.
During construction, will the – hundreds of – workers travel in by car? What is the environmental impact of thousands of workers on the site?
There is a considerable danger that allowing this development would set up a precedent in the area, and there is talk of linking up with other Freeport areas nearby. Green Belt should be protected and not allowed to be gradually taken away.
The Campaign for the Protection of Rural England (CPRE)has said it is ‘appalled’ that the council is looking on this scheme favourably. We believe other environmental groups will agree that it is not acceptable.
2. The nature of data centres and their impact on the environment:
These enormous banks of computers (never mentioned as such in the application!) require a large amount of electricity – the figure of 600 MW is quoted – which it is said will come from the existing Ockenden substation. The source of this electricity is therefore most likely to be fossil fuels – it is not renewable or sustainable.
Moreover, all such centres have power supply back-ups – usually diesel, and therefore not environmentally friendly.
It is disingenuous of the application to highlight the solar farm at Cranham (which Havering Friends of the Earth supported during its application) as we do not see what this has to do with the new proposal for North Ockendon. The solar farm is on a golf course, not agricultural land.
There is apparently a care home nearby – has the impact of noise from the plant been considered? In America, people have suffered from the 24-hour low-level humming that comes from these centres. Noise regulations are probably not sufficient to deal with this as the regulations only refer to decibel levels.
Visual impact: the plan is for fifteen warehouse-sized buildings up to 21 metres tall, surrounded by 6m tall security fences. Bunds will be used for screening, but bunds are, in our view, unsightly ways of hiding even more unsightly industrial buildings!
Usually, such data centres require cooling, as the operation of the computers generates heat. Often such centres are built in countries such as Finland or Iceland to make cooling easier. It is said the heat will be used to grow produce, but there is no word of whether or how this will be sufficient to cool the plant. It is unrealistic to claim that produce grown this way will replace what currently comes from four farms! The expression ‘low-tech agrifarming’ is worrying in this respect. There is a lot of work going on in the field of agroecology which would produce more food with lower carbon emissions, and we suggest this would be a much better way of using the land.
Typically, 40% of the electricity used by these centres is for cooling/air conditioning – a burden on the grid, which will require substantial new cables etc.
It is extremely likely that the plant will produce carbon dioxide and contribute to global warming. Data centres worldwide are known to contribute measurable quantities of carbon dioxide. The global contribution of data centres is greater than that of aircraft, and data centres are likely to multiply over the next few years.
There will be banks of batteries (50,000 square metres!) – therefore impacting on the mining of heavy metals and lead, which has caused concern globally.
There is a lack of long-term thinking here, for example, the problem of electronic waste is serious already. It is also likely that the centre will only have a lifetime of 10-15 years. What will happen to all the electronic components then?
3. Freeports:
We are amazed that the council is seduced by having a freeport in the borough. These benefit companies that want to minimize taxes and reduce regulation. The current Conservative government is keen on them, but the Residents Association has not raised any concern about this.
Conclusion:
We believe it is vitally important to preserve the Green Belt and not allow any encroachment, given the likelihood that this would create a precedent. The developers should reconsider the location of this proposed data centre. There must be a brownfield site that would be more suitable.
Given the serious environmental impact – destruction of wildlife habitats, the loss of green space and consequent loss of a carbon sink, noise, CO2 pollution, excessive consumption of water and electricity – we strongly oppose this development. We do not believe the ‘eco park’ is an acceptable replacement for the existing land.
In addition, given the complexity of the proposal, the enormous cost (£35 billion) and the fact that it will take years to put into operation, we do not accept that this application should be hurried through. We believe there should still be a full Planning Application so that the public can have time to understand the nature of this development and not be pushed into accepting it.
Site where the proposed data centre could be built.
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