Thurrock data centre could harm rare bees, says Essex charity

Plans to build a new data centre could threaten the habitat of one of Britain's most endangered plants and a rare species of bumblebee, a wildlife trust said.

A planning application has already been submitted for the Google data centre at Arena Essex Raceway in Thurrock, which is designated as a local wildlife site.

It is home to the rare broad-leaved cudweed and shrill carder bumblebee and the Essex Wildlife Trust fears "incredibly rare" habitats would be "destroyed".

A Google spokesperson said it took "our environmental responsibilities very seriously".

Data centres are giant warehouses full of powerful computers used to run digital services, such as movie streaming, online banking and artificial intelligence.

There are 568 data centres listed in the UK, according to the data centre map.

Emily Buttress, from the Essex Wildlife Trust, said her team was worried about the water and energy usage required, the warming effect on the surrounding land, and a lack of research about the long-term impacts of these buildings.

"We are quite worried with the rapid development of data centres," she said.

"What would it do for the local community in a water drought county? We are not against development, but it has to happen sustainably."

The Arena Essex Raceway announced in 2018 that it would stop hosting speedway fixtures for the Lakeside Hammers team.

Meanwhile, the Essex Wildlife Trust says the surrounding grassland and woodland has become home to 687 invertebrate and 439 plant species.

The trust said this included dingy skipper, which is a small moth-like butterfly, and the shrill carder bumblebee, which was only found in two areas in England.

It was designated as a local wildlife site in 2006. This does not offer legal protection from development, but it means council planners expect developers to look after the ecology.

Nightingale birds, the brown-banded carder bee and the five-banded weevil-wasp have also been recorded at the site.

But Global Infrastructure UK Limited bought the 129-acre (52-hectare) site in July 2023 for £47m (exclusive of VAT).

It submitted plans for the data centre on behalf of Google last year, and as part of the application, consultancy firm Mallory Land Ltd said the proposals took into account the ecology there.

In a statement submitted as part of the plans, Mallory Land Ltd said: "The demand for data centres has expanded significantly in recent years, driven by exponential growth in digital services, the emergence of artificial intelligence, cloud-based technologies, and the increasing adoption of smart infrastructure."

Google said data centres were vital to the UK economy and for online services.

"We share the Essex Wildlife Trust and Buglife's view that development at the former Arena Essex site must be sustainable," a spokesperson said.

"Our goal is to regenerate the site, bringing long-term investment and jobs to Thurrock while taking our environmental responsibilities very seriously."

The company had worked closely with Natural England and ecologists, they added, to "guarantee a 10% biodiversity net gain", "as well as ensuring a substantial part of the site is preserved for new public open space, green links, retained habitat, and the long-term enhancement of key woodland corridors".

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