Welsh ministers urged to take over decision on controversial data centre plans
Kieran Molloy, Local Democracy Reporter
Welsh Government ministers have been urged to take control of a controversial planning application for a huge data centre proposed on the site of a hospital park-and-ride facility.
Cardiff councillor Joe Carter has asked the Welsh Government to “call in” plans for the development at the Cardiff East Park and Ride in Pentwyn, meaning the final decision would be made by ministers rather than Cardiff Council.
Curtis Hall Ltd submitted plans in January to build the data centre on the site, which is currently used to provide a free park-and-ride service for the University Hospital of Wales.
The proposal has attracted significant opposition, including protests at County Hall and a petition calling for the Welsh Government to intervene.
Cllr Carter, a Liberal Democrat who represents Pentwyn, has now written to Planning Minister Siân Gwenllian asking her to use her powers to call in the application.
Such interventions are rare. According to the Welsh Government, only around five to 10 of approximately 25,000 planning applications each year are called in for determination by ministers.
Cllr Carter told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS): “We’ve been fighting the controversial plans to demolish a popular hospital park and ride and replace it with an energy intensive data centre since the end of last year.
“It’s the equivalent of 10 football fields. It will use the electricity of 100,000 homes and potentially 0.6m litres of water a day.
“These proposals undermine the One Planet Cardiff strategy and any other green aspirations this city and country have.
“We are calling on the planning minister, Siân Gwenllian MS, to use her powers to call in this application, take independent evidence, and make a decision.
“Her predecessor did this with the Cardiff Parkway Railway and that was much better aligned with Welsh Government transport and climate change policies.”
The call-in request, signed by Cllr Carter and fellow councillor Dan Naughton, also raises concerns about the potential impact on roads, the loss of a public amenity and access to the hospital.
It argues the proposed data centre would be “extremely energy intensive” and could have a “severe impact” on the ability of patients to travel to the hospital.
A petition carrying 2,995 signatures was submitted with the letter.
The application has also attracted more than 1,300 comments on Cardiff Council’s planning portal, with 1,296 objections and two comments in support.
Ambitions
A spokesman for the developer told the LDRS: “Our planning application sets out how we have designed the scheme in line with local planning policy, to minimise environmental impacts, whilst supporting South Wales’ economic and investment ambitions as an AI growth zone.
“The site ceased operating as a park and ride due to significant operating costs and underuse by visitors.
“Cardiff council granted temporary use of the site to University Hospital of Wales for use as a car park in 2023 pending the site’s longer-term redevelopment.
“We understand that Cardiff Council continues to support the hospital in securing a more sustainable alternative parking site.
“Our plans would improve sustainable transport for local communities living closest to the site through the provision of a new bridge and link road between Pentwyn and Llanrumney, connecting these communities and relieving the congestion on surrounding roads.”
No decision has yet been made on the planning application.
The Welsh Government’s Planning Directorate has been contacted for comment.
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The Welsh Government is unlikely to object. Datacenters typically meet the NSIP threshold, so the Infrastructure (Wales) Act 2024 is likely to apply.
The photo is doing a lot of work as the article says, the site was shut down and is no longer active due to lack of use: Use it or lose it and… lost it.
The site is not shut down, it still serves as a park and ride service to UHW – Wales’ largest hospital being used by staff and patients. At present no alternative location has been presented. Closing it without replacing will have an immediate knock on effect with missed/late appointments for patients at the hospital as there simply isn’t enough parking. In reference to comments around it not being used enough to be viable by the wider public as a park and ride to the city centre, this may have been the case in a business sense but this is a… Read more »
Which as the article makes clear was always a temporary basis until the next owner of the site is found.
The next owner has been found and the next owner has decided: Datacenter.
So your ire is aimed at the wrong place, justified ire I assure you… but rather than aim it at a developer who has purchased a brown field site and is now going to build on it… why not ask the council and the local health board why they didn’t purchase the site and why they are not providing additional parking.
The site is still owned by Cardiff Council which is under no obligation to sell it for a data centre.
Data centres need to be stopped. Unless they are zero impact. They generate their own green energy and do not use water and zero impact on the community.
See the US where they destroy area’s they are forced onto.
Unless hyperscale data centres can show that they will rely entirely on renewable energy they must be rejected as incompatible with Cardiff’s One Planet policy and Welsh Government’s net zero targets. This proposal fails that test.