A 386MW hyperscale data center complex being planned for Lincolnshire, UK, has been granted outline planning permission despite objections from residents.
First revealed in March, the Humber Tech Park will cost up to £3 billion ($3.82bn) to build and occupy a 76-hectare greenfield site south of the A160 in South Killingholme, near Grimsby.
Members of North Lincolnshire Council’s planning committee gave the scheme the green light at a meeting on Wednesday.
The company behind the project, Humber Tech Park Ltd, had previously said the three million sq ft (278,000 sqm) facility will offer 386MW across three buildings. It said these will be suitable for “training AI systems,” though did not go into detail on the type of hardware on offer.
At the planning meeting, two members of the public spoke out against the development. Grimsby Live reports that one of them, Lily Jones, raised concerns about the loss of arable land if the data center is built.
She said the project was "in an area that the village was promised would never have an industrial development,” and argued that the idea that the data center could be hidden by vegetation was "both fanciful and insulting to people's intelligence.”
Worries about noise and traffic were also voiced, while the committee also noted it had received 151 written comments about the data center, most of which were opposing the development.
Speaking on behalf of Humber Tech Park Ltd, Anthony Crean, a director of the company, said the scheme would have “environmental benefits” and highlighted a plan to grow tomatoes in greenhouses on the site, using waste heat from the data center. The 300,000 sq ft (27,000 sqm) greenhouse could generate up to £3.5 million ($4.43m) in sales each year, according to an impact report submitted with the application.
“The counter-intuitive effect of granting permission is that food production will increase, not decrease,” Crean said.
The council granted planning permission, subject to the developer fulfilling a Section 106 agreement which will see it invest in the local community, including through a £12.5 million ($15.9m) investment in apprenticeships, training and education.
It is likely the data center will take three years to build, and create 370 full-time jobs.
As previously reported by DCD, the site will also house a district heating unit “to capture and harness the heated air so that it could be used as part of a district heating network.”
A new electricity substation would be built on the site to help handle its power requirements.
Humber Tech Park Ltd’s Crean is also a director of Greystoke Land, which is planning large data center campuses in Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire. Though those applications to build on Green Belt land were denied by councilors, the new government has said both applications will be reviewed and could get the go-ahead.
