Epping Forest Member of Parliament Dr Neil Hudson has written to the Head of Planning at Epping Forest District Council to urge them to ensure local communities are protected from any adverse impacts of data centres.
The letter follows recent concerns at a potential proposal for a new data centre at New Barns Farm in Chigwell, to which Dr Neil Hudson objects.
The project, not yet submitted but currently being consulted on by developers, has raised profound concerns in regard to the risk it could pose to Green Belt land not currently included in the Epping Forest District Local Plan, threatening the precious character that defines the local area, as well as potential risks to the nature and biodiversity Green Belt land sustains, and is crucial for.
Dr Hudson is urging the Council to address these issues and to push back at central Government pressure, and he raised major concerns he shares with constituents regarding data centres and their impacts on local resources, such as the vast water and energy they require for use. He highlighted that recent major local water outages across the constituency, seen more frequently since the Summer, which have only heightened concerns of local resources being impacted further by data centres.
Dr Neil Hudson, MP for Epping Forest commented:
“I completely share constituents’ alarm about proposals for a possible new data centre at New Barns Farm Chigwell and I firmly object to our precious Green Belt land being put at risk from this proposal.”
“Likewise, I have serious concerns about the levels of water and energy use data centres require, and communities need to know that these aren’t going to be put at risk.”
“I’ve therefore written to Epping Forest District Council Planning Department to seek clarification on these proposals and am urging them to push back against pressure from the Government.”
“The Labour Government need to ensure their planning policy properly considers the impacts of data centres on local communities and doesn’t try to push through any inappropriately- sited projects.”
“As Epping Forest’s MP, I will always stand up for our precious Green Belt and resources.”
