Plans for huge data centre near Upminster to progress

The council is considering a proposal by developer Digital Reef to build “Europe’s largest” data centre on a 200-hectare farmland site to the east of Upminster and Cranham.

Instead of following the normal planning application route, the council has opted to “explore” using a Local Development Order (LDO) to grant “upfront” permission for the entire site in one go.

In June, the council’s assistant director of planning Helen Oakerbee said an “informal consultation” would begin later this year, but at a briefing to the council’s strategic planning committee last week she said the council has now opted to skip this stage.

The council will instead “concentrate efforts” on producing detailed analysis and documentation to show the public in a formal public consultation at a later date.

In August, the Recorder reported how the proposed centre could have a 'significant' environmental impact, according to council planning officers, while Havering Friends of the Earth has also expressed concerns. 

According to the Local Government Association, LDOs – which are approved by the council leadership rather than a planning committee – give developers the right to build specified buildings on a site.

The association says they incentivise development by “simplifying” the planning process and making investment on a site “more attractive”.

The centre would be built on land in red, close to the Lower Thames Crossing (white) (Image: Havering Council)

Oakerbee said that without more details an informal consultation on the details of the LDO for the data centre proposal would be premature and not “meaningful”.

She added: “It’s that choice between being premature or not saying enough, versus taking a decision to consult at a later point in the process.

“What I’d really like to stress is, there will be consultation, and there will be formal consultation so this isn’t about progressing without consultation at all, because clearly, given the nature of given the nature of the project, it’s really important that there is that engagement, but it’s about making sure that engagement in the formal sense of it’s timed at the right point in the process with the right information.”

Councillor Jane Keane said “cutting out” an informal public consultation before the council proceeded to formally approve the LDO route gave her “genuine concern”.

She added: “I think skipping the informal bit, I think is really not good, and particularly in the current climate… it’s a bit febrile anyway, about consultations not being consultations but virtually decided, and I don’t think that is helpful.

“I do appreciate the tight timescales and this is a prestigious project and other people are competing for it, so I do get the pressures.”

Digital Reef has offered the council a £9million premium if the permission for the data centre is granted and is understood to be funding the expertise the council needs to consider the plans in detail.

An artist's impression of the proposed centre and surrounding park. Image: Digital Reef (Image: Digital Reef)

Havering has now appointed specialist advisors Ramboll to produce an environmental impact assessment and Adams Hendry Consulting as planning advisors.

The next stage for the council is to formulate a draft “statement of reasons” before deciding whether an LDO is definitely the route it will take.

Despite Oakerbee’s suggestion that a consultation would be “premature” due to a lack of detail, Digital Reef has published a detailed 132-page document on the environmental impacts of the proposal on the council’s website.

If plans are approved, the site will see fifteen warehouse-sized buildings up to 21metres tall – surrounded by 6m tall security fences – containing 300,000sqm of data centre, 40,000sqm of horticultural facilities, 50,000sqm of battery storage and 50,000sqm of green energy power generation technology.

The site will also include 113 hectares of “new green space and nature reserve” with a 5,000sqm visitor centre.

The document says the development would be “Europe’s largest data centre campus” that would increase London’s data storage capacity by “more than 50%”.

It adds: “The data centre buildings will be sensitively designed into the ground and the landscape, softened by extensive new planting and green infrastructure, with significant benefits to biodiversity.

“It will also embrace a number of innovative sustainable solutions, such as the repurposing of data centre heat to warm intensive agriculture biomes.

“Renewable energy sources will be key to achieving carbon neutrality, whilst the aim is to harness the natural energy potential of the site

“It is intended to be an exemplar for the future of data centre design and operation of global significance to the future of the planet, showcasing the UK as a world leader in reducing carbon emissions.”

Digital Reef is the trading name of Reef Estates, a Marylebone-based developer owned by Piers Slater and Stewart Deering that turned over £49m in 2021/22.

A detailed report outlining the potential environmental impacts of the proposals can be accessed by searching “Z0003.23″ on the council’s planning website or by clicking on this link.