Massive new data centre planned on land near the M4
Anthony Lewis, Local Democracy Reporter
A planning application has been submitted for the 18,220-square-metre data centre as well as access, parking, drainage, landscaping, services, and utilities on land at Mwyndy Cross to the east of the A4119.
A design and access statement prepared on behalf of Maska Group Limited mentions plans for the 18,220sqm (196,120 sq ft) data centre over two internal floors plus a 2,260-square-metre (24,330 sq ft) three-storey office block.
The development also includes an adjoining loading, unloading, plant (energy), and sub-station block as well as all associated support transport infra-structure, security, services, landscaping, mitigation such as additional hedgerow and small trees, and sustainable drainage systems (SuDS) attenuation ponds.
The application also includes a new access road and T-junction off Mwyndy Cross.
The design and access statement says many towns and cities throughout the UK are grappling with the recognised need for data centres.
It says: “Although on the face of it, the UK doesn’t have a shortage of data centres – there are more than 500 across the country – it is the need for greater and greater capacity in order to keep up with the demands of artificial intelligence (AI) that is in demand.”
It says that Google have been reported as saying that the UK is at risk of being left behind in AI without more data centres in a call that the UK Government has appeared to heed, designating data centres as “critical national infrastructure”.
“Moreover, analysis of current trends suggests that global demand for data centre capacity could rise at an annual rate of circa 20% between now and 2030 reaching an annual demand of between 170 to 220 gigawatts (GW).”
The statement says that the available land to the east of Mwyndy Cross, particularly given its inherent infrastructure connectivity, offers an ideal opportunity for the development of such a data centre.
It says the application proposals are intended to create employment opportunities of various kinds for the immediate and wider population as well as become a catalyst for further development along Mwyndy Cross.
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They will be after the adjoining land to build a massive power bank soon. The lure of jobs always sounds nice until you realise that there are no guarantees that existing local residents will be prioritised for them.
Indeed Amir – and the jobs they refer to are largely restricted to the construction of the data centre (once operational data centres require relatively few employees to maintain them). Meanwhile the drain a large scale data centre such as this one will put on local energy and water supplies will be astronomical – there is a abundance of evidence from the US to show this https://www.lincolninst.edu/publications/land-lines-magazine/articles/land-water-impacts-data-centers/
while the public faces soaring utility bills, water rationing, and strict green transition targets, an immense portion of the UK’s domestic power generation is being handed over to international tech conglomerates to process data, power AI models, and run commercial cloud networks. When will people wise up to how detrimental these data centres are,
Noise will be horrendous.
Power use massive.
Cooling.
That close to houses.
Important to note the ‘jobs’ the backers of this project (the Manchester based Maska group) claim it will create will be largely restricted to the construction of the data centre (once operational data centres require relatively few employees to maintain them). Meanwhile the drain a large scale data centre such as this one will put on local energy and water supplies in south Wales will be huge – there is a abundance of evidence from places like the US to show this : https://www.lincolninst.edu/publications/land-lines-magazine/articles/land-water-impacts-data-centers/ Its frankly horrifying that there appear to be plans (drawn up by the UK govt in… Read more »