Data centre proposal threatens London green belt, says campaign group
Data centre complex will cause "massive environmental damage," says CPRE
A leading environmental organisation has vowed to oppose the construction of a new data centre complex on green belt land in East London.
The project, managed by developer Digital Reef, would be 'Europe's biggest data centre,' according to Havering Council, which approved plans for the project last week.
However, critics and campaigners say it will cause environmental damage and will ruin the surrounding countryside.
"We are astonished and appalled the council has agreed to sink valuable time into developing a proposal which will cause massive environmental damage and is highly unlikely to gain permission," Alice Roberts of the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE), told The Telegraph.
Havering Council's cabinet decided to allow Council staff and their prospective partner, Digital Reef, to continue developing the proposals to advance the East Havering site during a meeting at Havering Town Hall on 9th November.
The project proposes to build Europe's largest data centre on a 499-acre site, establish Havering as a global leader in the development of green technology, create an estimated 2,370 permanent jobs for locals and develop an ecology park and community forest on up to 300 acres of the site, among other things.
Digital Reef's plans for the project site include for the construction of 15 warehouse-sized data storage facilities within a new ecology park outside the M25, east of Upminster and Cranham.
However, in order to justify construction on legally protected territory, the council and Digital Reef will need to establish that there are 'very special circumstances'.
The London green belt zone was established to preserve greenfield region from property developers.
Controversy erupted earlier this year when it became clear that there was a de facto prohibition on new housing constructions along the M4 corridor to the west of London, because planned data centres in the area had pushed the local electricity grid to its limit.
According to Havering council documents, the proposed data centre complex will need up to 600 megawatts of electrical power during peak hours: roughly comparable to the electricity 140,000 homes consume in an hour.
The Energy Markets Association has determined that the Havering project would not inhibit the capacity of the grid in the Upminster neighbourhood.
"UK Power Networks have confirmed that there will be sufficient supply capacity for this project," a spokesperson for the Association said.
"They are now working hard to ensure a smooth connection to their network in collaboration with transmission network owner National Grid."
If the project is completed, Havering Council anticipates receiving around £12 million in business rates annually.
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