Plan for controversial Sydney data centre scrapped after push-back

Plans for a data centre which would have been built metres from people's homes in a Sydney suburb have been scrapped following intense push-back by campaigners. The data centre was being developed by Goodman Group, Australia's biggest property company, and would have seen it construct a A$1.2bn (£630m; $841m), 90-megawatt facility known as Project Mars in the Lane Cove area.The company confirmed it was withdrawing its application in a letter to the local planning authority. It follows a concerted opposition against the data centre by local residents and campaigners. The dispute captures a wider disagreement in Australia over the role of data centres. With the mainstreaming of Generative AI in recent years, there has been a huge swell in demand for data centres, and Australia - with its abundance of clean energy, natural gas reserves, and land - has become a global destination for their construction. However, while the country's government has been keen to attract investment from global AI companies, there has also been stiff opposition due to the huge demands the centres place on water and energy supplies, and the disruption they cause local communities. The proposal for Project Mars, which would have been constructed about 20 metres from the nearest house in the suburb of Lane Cove, received 374 submissions during a consultation - with just nine in support of it. According to local news website In the Cove, this is highest number of submissions ever received for a data centre application.