Residents oppose Digital Reef’s 600MW data center on London green-belt land

Residents are opposing Digital Reef’s proposed 600MW data center campus on London’s green-belt land, citing construction disruption, noise, traffic and electricity use. In interviews published by the BBC on November 11, neighbors challenged whether North Ockendon, in Havering, is the right location for a development that would rank among Europe’s largest if approved.

The proposal would occupy more than 200 acres of green-belt land, according to TechRadar. Digital Reef promises employment, community funding and an ecology park. But the project has not been approved, and Havering Council says further consultation will take place “when the time is right.”

Residents question the location, not the need for data

Danny Leach, who lives near the proposed development, told the BBC he feared years of building work followed by the constant background noise of an operating campus. He said construction could last eight to 20 years and bring another thousand vehicles a day. Those figures are his account of the expected disruption, not an approved construction schedule.

We all need data, but do we need the largest data centre in Europe in this location?

Danny Leach, North Ockendon resident, speaking to the BBC

Other objections concern how the proposal has been handled. Ian Pirie, from the local Friends of the Earth, called the planning process “very undemocratic” and said residents had not been involved. Digital Reef did not respond to the BBC’s request for comment.

The developer’s promised benefits include 620 full-time jobs once the campus is operational and an £11.54 million community payment, TechRadar reports. Digital Reef also says more than half the proposed site would become a 113-hectare ecology park, with footpaths and cycling routes. Its website promises local employment opportunities and skills training alongside the digital infrastructure and public green space. These are commitments for the proposed development, not benefits already delivered.

The net-zero promise has a planning caveat

Digital Reef says the campus would be net zero in operation and use “zero onsite fossil fuels.” Yet its planning application says the project “does not align with a science-based 1.5C compatible trajectory and achieving net zero by 2050,” according to TechRadar’s account of the documents. The operational promise therefore sits alongside a planning disclosure that does not claim alignment with that climate pathway.

Planning documents also provide for a payment to the borough’s carbon offset fund to cover any shortfall against the zero-carbon target. Digital Reef estimates that contribution at about £77.6 million. It is separate from the promised community payment.

The electricity requirement is substantial even below full load. Digital Reef estimates annual consumption of about 2.65 billion kilowatt-hours at 50% load, TechRadar reports. That is a projection for the planned campus, not electricity it is already consuming.

Green-belt land faces a specific planning test

The draft London Plan supports data centers in suitable locations, but sets conditions. Water and electricity capacity must be available, land allocated for housing should not be used, and green-belt sites should be considered only where brownfield alternatives are unavailable. The draft also calls for efficient energy and water use, innovative cooling and, where possible, infrastructure to supply nearby homes with recovered heat.

Finding alternatives is itself a constraint. A report for the Greater London Authority says high land prices and competition from housing and other industries make many inner-London plots difficult, potentially pushing development toward the capital’s edges. It identifies energy as London’s most critical data-center growth constraint, with grid connections in west London potentially taking seven to 13 years. That regional estimate is not a connection timetable for North Ockendon.

Havering Council leader Keith Prince told the BBC that the council cannot prevent a private company from submitting an application. If the campus proceeds, he said, the council would drive “the hardest bargain possible” for residents and seek ecological, environmental and agricultural gains.