Australian developer axes Sydney suburban data centre plan after local opposition

SYDNEY, Sept 28 (Reuters) - Australia’s biggest property company on Monday abandoned plans to build a data centre metres from people’s homes in the Sydney suburbs after the proposal sparked fierce local opposition.

 

In a letter to the state’s planning department, Goodman Group, one of Australia’s 20 largest listed companies, said it was withdrawing the development application for the A$1.2 billion ($841.9 million), 90-megawatt facility known as Project Mars.

 

"The policy and regulatory environment for large-scale data centre development has evolved significantly," the letter said.

 

"Goodman has carefully considered these changes together with feedback received through the planning process, including the views of the local community ... Goodman has concluded that it will not progress with the development application."

 

The withdrawal is one of the clearest examples yet of Australian grassroots opponents blocking a data centre’s development.

 

As Australia seeks to be a global hub for data centres, the projects have faced growing scrutiny over their environmental footprint, vast energy and water consumption, impact on power bills, and potential noise pollution.

 

Local residents in the Sydney suburb of Lane Cove, where Goodman had intended to develop Project Mars, had opposed the data centre, which would have been located some 20 metres (65 feet) away from homes.

 

Goodman conceded last week during a Senate inquiry into data centres the project had failed to win a "social licence", after being accused by a lawmaker of showing contempt for local residents.

($1 = 1.4253 Australian dollars)

 

(Reporting by Christine Chen in Sydney, Editing by Louise Heavens)