Stop the Cardiff East Data Centre

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You can use the following as a starting point, but please add your own concerns and experiences so that your representation is genuinely your own. Sign up on the planning portal and leave your objection as a comment.

FORMAL OBJECTION TO PLANNING APPLICATION 26/00109/HYB

Cardiff East Park & Ride, Eastern Avenue – Proposed Data Centre

FAO: Chief Planning Officer / Planning Committee

I wish to formally object to planning application 26/00109/HYB in its present form.

I am concerned that the submitted application does not adequately assess the environmental and cumulative effects of this major, 24-hour development on the residential community immediately adjoining the site.

1. MAPLE FIELDS HAS NOT BEEN ADEQUATELY ASSESSED

Maple Fields is a recently completed residential development approved under application 18/02594/MJR. The development should be explicitly assessed as a sensitive receptor in the noise, air-quality, lighting, visual, health and cumulative assessments.

The submitted material states that Maple Fields is approximately 150m from the Temporary Energy Centre. The assessment should explain why these homes have not been consistently included as sensitive residential receptors.

2. NOISE AND AIR QUALITY

The proposed data centre is expected to operate continuously and would involve generators, cooling equipment, fans and transformers.

I am concerned about operational noise, low-frequency and tonal noise, vibration and air emissions. The assessment should demonstrate that the closest and potentially most-exposed homes and gardens have been properly assessed, including worst-case simultaneous plant operation, summer cooling conditions and generator testing.

The application material also contains differing conclusions regarding air quality. These should be reconciled before the application is determined.

3. FLOOD RISK

I am concerned about the potential effect of the development on flood risk to neighbouring homes, gardens, highways, the school and access routes.

The application should resolve outstanding concerns regarding blockage scenarios, climate-change allowances and potential off-site detriment before determination.

4. LIGHTING, CONSTRUCTION AND VISUAL IMPACTS

The effects of a continuously operated data-centre campus on neighbouring homes should include security, emergency, road and bridge lighting, glare and light spill into bedrooms, living rooms and gardens.

Construction noise, vibration, dust, traffic and working hours should also be assessed using an up-to-date assessment relating specifically to the current data-centre proposal.

5. ENVIRONMENTAL LIMITS OF THE OUTLINE PROPOSAL

The application seeks outline permission for up to 30,392.5m² of data-centre development while important environmental determinants remain uncertain.

Any permission should contain sufficiently clear and enforceable parameters to ensure that the development ultimately constructed remains within the environmental effects assessed.

6. CUMULATIVE EFFECTS AND LOSS OF THE PARK & RIDE

The same residents may experience construction noise and dust, traffic, operational plant noise, air pollution, lighting, visual change and flood impacts simultaneously. These cumulative and interacting effects should be properly assessed.

The proposal would also result in the loss or substantial reduction of the existing 900-space Park & Ride facility. Any replacement should be legally secured, funded, consented and operational before the existing facility is lost.

CONCLUSION

I do not believe the submitted information provides a sufficiently robust assessment of the likely environmental consequences of this large, 24-hour operational development immediately adjacent to existing homes.

I therefore respectfully request that planning application 26/00109/HYB be refused in its present form.

Alternatively, the application should not be determined until adequate further environmental information has been obtained, publicised and consulted upon.

Please record this representation as a formal objection and ensure that the matters raised above are expressly addressed in the planning officer’s report and any subsequent decision.

Submit your objection

Why are residents concerned?

The application proposes a large, continuously operated data-centre development immediately next to existing homes.

01 — Maple Fields

Nearby homes need to be properly assessed

Maple Fields is a recently completed residential development approved under application 18/02594/MJR. The submitted material does not consistently treat Maple Fields as a sensitive receptor across the noise, air-quality, lighting, visual, health and cumulative assessments.

The material states that Maple Fields is around 150m from the Temporary Energy Centre, while Ball Lane is identified as the closest representative residential receptor at around 250m.

02 — Noise & air quality

A 24-hour industrial operation beside homes

The proposal involves generators, cooling equipment, fans and transformers. Residents are concerned about operational noise, tonal and low-frequency noise, vibration and emissions.

Maple Fields should be explicitly assessed as a residential receptor.

The supplied objection material states that Maple Fields does not appear to have been specifically modelled in the air-quality receptor assessment.

The application also contains differing conclusions regarding air quality, including a reported maximum short-term NO₂ concentration of approximately 194 μg/m³ in the original Environmental Statement.

03 — Flood risk

Further flood-risk questions remain

The objection material identifies potential increases in flood depths in surrounding areas, including approximately 0.4–0.7m over parts of a school playing field, as well as increased overtopping at Ball Lane.

It also refers to outstanding concerns raised by Natural Resources Wales regarding blockage scenarios, climate-change allowances and potential off-site detriment.

04 — Lighting & construction

Construction and 24-hour lighting need proper assessment

Residents could experience security, emergency, road and bridge lighting, glare and light entering bedroom and living-room windows and gardens.

The objection material also raises concerns that the submitted Construction Environmental Management Plan is dated 2022 and relates to the former proposed development rather than adequately demonstrating the impacts of the current data-centre scheme.

05 — An uncertain environmental envelope

What gets built must stay within what has been assessed

The application seeks outline permission for up to 30,392.5m² of data-centre development while important details remain uncertain, including cooling technology, plant numbers, generator and transformer specifications, sound levels, emission rates, lighting and detailed layouts.

06 — Loss of the Park & Ride

A major community facility would be lost or reduced

The proposal would result in the loss or substantial reduction of the existing 900-space Park & Ride facility.

The objection asks that any replacement facility is legally secured, funded, consented and operational before the existing facility is lost.

The Temporary Energy Centre

According to the objection material, the proposed Temporary Energy Centre is expected to operate from approximately July 2028 for around five years, until the site is expected to have its full electricity connection.

49.9 MW maximum generating capacity

The Environmental Statement is described as providing for:

7 × PGM70 (Taurus 70) gas turbines, each rated at 8.18 MW
1 × steam turbine/generator
2 × diesel backup generators
Maximum generating capacity of 49.9 MW
Only 6 of the 7 gas turbines operating at any one time because of the 49.9 MW limit

Residents are asking for the full environmental impacts of this temporary energy arrangement to be properly assessed before the application is determined.

Make your objection your own

The strongest representation is one that explains your own concerns and how the proposal could affect you. Add details such as where you live, what you are concerned about, and which parts of the proposal you want Cardiff Council to address.