A notice of motion by City of Stirling councillor Suzanne Migdale, proposing the council investigate classifying data centres as an X-use that would make them ineligible for approval anywhere in the city, was defeated eight votes to four at a council meeting on Tuesday night, according to the ABC.
Perth councillor's bid to ban data centres fails as planners call for clearer state guidelines
A notice of motion by City of Stirling councillor Suzanne Migdale, proposing the council investigate classifying data centres as an X-use that would make them ineligible for approval anywhere in the city, was defeated eight votes to four at a council meeting on Tuesday night, according to the ABC.
Migdale said she had concerns about the environmental and health effects of data centres, stating that research had linked large data centres to community concerns around air quality, noise, water stress, and broader public health impacts. She said cooling systems, fans, and backup diesel generators can create noise, and that backup generators also contribute to air pollution. There are currently no applications to build data centres in Stirling.
Planning lawyer and town planner Belinda Moharich said one of the core difficulties facing councils when deciding on data centre applications is that data centres are not a defined use of land in any planning scheme in Western Australia. She said that when a land use is not identified in a planning scheme, there is a requirement to determine whether it can be classified under another category, with data centres currently being classified as a warehouse or an industrial land use. If no best fit exists, the use is considered 'not listed', meaning it is potentially capable of approval in any zone within a local planning scheme.
Moharich noted that data centres can vary greatly in size and impact, ranging from smaller centres inside city buildings to large campuses covering hectares of land. She said state government guidance would be useful for assessing planning applications, describing the current situation as placing local governments on the front line of managing an emerging land use without the proper tools. She said blanket bans were not the answer but that more certainty of approach was needed.
Terresa Lynes, mayor of Gosnells in Perth's east and chair of the National Growth Areas Alliance, said her council approved a data centre in the suburb of Maddington in September of last year. She described it as a $415 million project that will eventually be a 200-megawatt facility located in the Maddington Industrial area. She said the approval generated community concern, which she attributed partly to information circulating about American data centres creating anxiety among residents.
Following that approval, Gosnells council developed a policy addressing environmental requirements for data centres, including provisions around water usage and noise. Lynes said the policy favoured data centres with closed-loop water systems that do not continually draw water, generators encased in concrete, and appropriate filtration systems to dispel heat.
Both Lynes and Moharich called for state government leadership on data centre regulation. Lynes said that without legislation specifically identifying data centres as a land use category, councils are required to assess them as warehouses. She said more data centres were inevitable and that it would be preferable for councils to shape where they are located rather than attempt to stop them outright, adding that it is more efficient to store data in one facility than across multiple buildings.
- The voting breakdown beyond the overall four-to-eight result is not provided, and the positions of other individual councillors are not reported.
- The Western Australian state government's position on data centre regulation, or whether it has any plans to introduce specific legislation or guidelines, is not stated.
- The identity or nature of any data centre operators or developers consulted or affected is not reported.
- The specific environmental or health studies Migdale referenced when citing research linking data centres to community concerns are not identified.
- Details of the Gosnells council policy on data centres, beyond the broad categories of water systems, generator encasing, and heat filtration, are not provided.
- Whether the $415 million Maddington data centre is under construction or operational is not stated.
Read the original at ABC News Australia