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The proposal would replace a hospital park-and-ride site and use seven gas turbines for five years. Consultation can continue, but approval remains blocked.
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Welsh ministers are considering whether to take control of the planning decision for Curtis Hall’s proposed Cardiff data centre, and a restriction in place by September 4 means Cardiff Council cannot approve it while they decide. The project would replace a hospital park-and-ride site and faces more than 1,200 objections. The dispute highlights practical constraints on data-centre development: the scheme’s political support is conditional on replacement transport, while its proposed gas-turbine power and access to the electricity grid are also contested.
The park-and-ride provides free buses to the University Hospital of Wales three times an hour; campaigner Sue Elias collected 1,300 staff and patient signatures separately from the planning objections.
Curtis Hall’s filings describe seven gas turbines supplying the facility around the clock for five years; nearby residents have raised air-pollution concerns.
Developer-commissioned assessments estimate emissions would remain within safe levels, and Curtis Hall says the project requires full environmental and public-health regulatory compliance.
More than 1,200 planning objections have been lodged against a proposed Cardiff data centre that would replace a hospital park-and-ride site, the Guardian reported on October 24. Cardiff Council cannot grant permission while Welsh ministers consider taking over the decision. The restriction was already in place by September 4, leaving the application unresolved.
Ministers are considering whether to “call in” Curtis Hall’s application: take the planning decision out of the council’s hands and place it with a Welsh minister. Constituency MP Jo Stevens explained the process in a September 4 statement.
Cardiff Council wants to sell the site to developer Curtis Hall for a large-scale data centre. The existing park-and-ride provides free buses to the University Hospital of Wales, also known as Heath hospital. NHS staff use services running three times an hour.
Campaigner Sue Elias has collected names from 1,300 staff and patients for an open letter demonstrating the service’s use, according to the Guardian. Those signatures are separate from the planning objections.
Stevens offers conditional support. She says the development could bring construction and operational jobs and contribute towards a third exit from Llanrumney onto the A48. Her backing depends on a suitable replacement park-and-ride and uninterrupted service for NHS staff and patients.
In September, she asked the health board for a replacement timetable and assurances it would be operational before closure. She also asked what support the council was providing.
Documents filed by Curtis Hall describe a temporary energy centre with seven gas turbines, expected to supply the facility around the clock for five years, according to the Guardian.
Resident Nick Richards’s home is about 300 metres from the proposed energy centre; a nearby care home would be about 150 metres away. Richards fears air pollution. Developer-commissioned assessments estimate emissions would remain within safe levels. Curtis Hall says the scheme cannot proceed without full environmental and public-health regulatory compliance.
The Guardian reports that more than 100 other planned UK data centres aim to use gas turbines because of grid-connection delays. Stevens has another condition for Cardiff: no preferential grid access over existing applications from local industry and investors.
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