Amazon data centre near M25 gets approval

Amazon has been given the go-ahead to build a huge data centre beside the M25, despite concerns about its environmental impact.

The development will replace 17 industrial and warehouse units on the Ridgeway Distribution Centre in Iver, Buckinghamshire.

The Ivers Parish Council said the building would have a negative impact on air quality and traffic, but Buckinghamshire Council approved the plans on Monday.

Officers concluded that the need for data centres, the employment benefits and an expected reduction in vehicle movements outweighed other considerations.

The data centre's main building would be about 20 metres (65ft) high.

The 18-acre (7.3-hectare) scheme also includes a substation, water tanks, a generator yard, security fencing and parking.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service said the parish council neither supported nor objected to the application, but asked for improvements to walking routes, including the canal path, and wanted low-emission vehicles to be used during construction.

The site is in an air quality management area, and the council's environmental health team said the 27 back-up generators would produce emissions during routine testing and maintenance.

Air-quality modelling predicted a negligible effect at the locations assessed, but officers said that did not mean the development would have no impact.

A legal agreement has secured £600,382 towards projects to offset any air pollution from the site.

It also requires a plan to monitor emissions from the generators, which would primarily use hydrotreated vegetable oil, with diesel as a back-up fuel.

Officers said Amazon had also agreed to contribute £73,000 towards improvements to public rights of way.

The approval comes after Buckinghamshire Council previously rejected plans for a data centre on green belt land at the Court Lane Industrial Estate in Iver, only for the decision to be overturned by housing secretary Angela Rayner.

However, this year the government accepted it was wrong to grant planning permission for a data centre at the nearby Woodlands Park landfill site, after it had initially been rejected by the authority.

On the latest scheme, Buckinghamshire Council said: "We don't have anything further to add."

Amazon said it would not be "sharing a statement for inclusion", but planning documents estimated the project could support 60 full-time jobs on site, alongside jobs created during construction.

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