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At this month’s meeting of Bridgend Council’s planning committee, committee members approved plans for a data centre campus at the former Ford Engine Plant at Waterton (pdf).
The application was submitted by American IT company, Vantage. They currently run a large data centre on the outskirts of Newport and are also planning another data centre at the Bro Tathan Business Park in the Vale of Glamorgan.
According to the report, data centres are now considered “critical national infrastructure”.
What's in the proposal?
- The application seeks full planning permission for the first data centre, which would be built on the north-eastern part of the site.
- A gatehouse/guardhouse and landscaping ponds, as well as the first stage of the campus’s internal road network.
- Upgrades to the electrical infrastructure serving the site.
- Outline planning permission is being sought for up to a further nine data centres, subject to detailed planning applications being submitted in the future. These would be built over the next 15 years.
- It’s expected that 1,500 jobs would be created during construction and up to 600 jobs on-site once the campus is fully completed (~60 jobs per data centre).
"No alternative interest in the site"
There were no objections from major consultees, though Coychurch Lower Community Council sought assurances that the development wouldn’t affect water or power supplies.
At a public meeting held in November 2024, some objections were raised by attendees. In addition to concerns around expected noise and power usage (and their impact on the environment), there was a belief that the land should be used for manufacturing.
The report says there has been “no interest in the site from a manufacturing view”.
Future applications (“reserved matters”) would be brought to the Committee
In addition to questions around water supplies, one of the main issues brought up during the committee meeting was how the project would be managed (from a planning perspective) in the longer term. As the campus would be developed over the course of 15 years, there were no guarantees that the planning system would work in the same way.
On the water consumption issue, planning officers pointed to conditions whereby the campus would Conditions on both full and outline application on water supplies, developers need to prove that the development doesn’t impact local water supplies and, if necessary, “reinforce the existing public water supply network”.
On the planning issue, the committee agreed to a motion tabled by Cllr. Simon Griffiths (Lab, Brackla East & Coychurch), confirming that any future applications relating to this (known as “reserved matters”) would be brought before the committee.
It was also confirmed that if the campus required a dedicated source of power in the future, separate planning permission would be needed.
Cllr. Griffiths asked further questions about the scale and visual impact of the development, as it would be seen from other parts of the county and the Vale of Glamorgan, as some buildings would be up to 33 metres tall.
Planning officers said landscaping schemes would soften the appearance, but noted that the final development wouldn’t look as “stark” as the mock-up images included in the report itself.
The application was approved unanimously, subject to 32 conditions and advisory notes.
