Plans for a new data centre beside the Menai Strait in Wales are facing a new hurdle, after around 300 people protested the proposals on Saturday. 

The planned data centre campus would cover approximately 41 hectares on the site of the former Ferodo factory between Caernarfon and Y Felinheli. There will reportedly be up to five data centre builds supported by a proposed electricity network connection of 450 MW. 

While it’s certainly not the largest data centre currently being proposed in the UK, it is still facing strong opposition from the local community. On top of the demonstration which occurred on October 10, a petition against the plans has now eclipsed more than 22,500 signatures. 

It all comes as Gwynedd Council is considering an outline planning application for the site, but protestors want it rejected. They say that the plans will have a damaging impact on the surrounding landscape, water resources and wildlife. 

Plaid Cymru MP Liz Saville Roberts, who attended Saturday’s demonstration, told BBC Wales, “We know that we need data centres but they have to be the right size, the right technology and in the right places.”

Environmental concerns over Menai development

It’s not just the protestors who have highlighted the potential impact of the data centre, with Natural Resources Wales having previously objected over the potential visual impact on the Anglesey National Landscape, while Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water submitted a holding objection concerning sewerage capacity and insufficient detail about the proposed cooling technology.

Both responses predate the Environmental Statement submitted by the developer in September, and it remains unclear whether their positions have since changed.

That Environmental Statement did state that the site could potentially use a maximum of almost 12 million litres per day, but that was a worst case scenario. In fact, the Gwelyfenai, the developer behind the site, believes the more realistic day-to-day figure will sit closer to 700,000 litres as its proposed cooling system would recirculate water, with no abstraction from the Menai Strait.

Gwelyfenai also argues that the development would remediate contaminated industrial land, create approximately 950 construction jobs and support 210 permanent roles once operational. It has also proposed setting aside around eight hectares for ecological enhancement.

It’s not the only developer that is having to contend with fierce opposition from the local community, however. In Scotland, plans for a 1GW campus at Chapelcross have also attracted local objections.

That furore is likely to continue as the opposition to data centre developments appears to be on the rise. In fact, a study by Telehouse earlier this year showed that public sentiment to data centres was dropping, despite more people understanding the functions these facilities perform. That could be very awkward for an industry that is trying to build-out capacity to ensure the UK can benefit from the AI boom.