Spotswood residents campaign against Greensquare's $1.47b data centre

Information Age reported on 2 November that residents of Spotswood, a Melbourne suburb about 7km south-west of the CBD, are campaigning against a proposed $1.47 billion data centre from Greensquare, a Sydney-based technology company bought last year by a Swiss private equity firm. The 240MW facility would sit as close as 100m from homes and a childcare centre.

Why it matters

Greensquare took the plan to the local council first, pulled it, then refiled under the state’s fast-track planning pathway. That route takes the council out of the decision and leaves objectors with no VCAT appeal. The state’s newly announced data centre rules, which ban facilities within 150m of homes, schools and childcare centres and require renewable energy generation, do not apply retrospectively, Information Age reported. Residents leading the campaign wrote to several Victorian government representatives last month, raising the lack of appeal rights, uncertainty over the development’s scope, environmental impacts and the site’s location about 100m from homes and childcare facilities. They want data centre approvals put on hold until the new rules take effect. “We think the majority flat out do not want this,” one of the campaigners told Information Age. In its application, Greensquare calls the project critical digital infrastructure on a well-suited industrial site and says no person would suffer material detriment. The campaigners questioned why the government would wait until 2027 if it believes the rules are necessary, Information Age reported. For Melbourne developers eyeing industrial land near housing, the case shows the gap between the old fast-track pathway and the incoming buffer rules.

The numbers

The application forecasts 130 ongoing direct jobs once complete. It also promises lower water use, renewable HVO diesel and battery backup to cut reliance on fossil fuels. In a statement to the Herald Sun cited by Information Age, Greensquare said it wrote to over 600 local homes and businesses in mid-July, ran information sessions for the community, and that its leaders met one-on-one with several residents.

What’s next

Because the new rules are not retrospective, applications already in the system can run under the old settings, Information Age reported, even though the Spotswood plan would likely fail the new test. The outlet also cited reports that Greensquare had withdrawn the Spotswood proposal, and that consultation would start again if it is refiled, so the project’s status remains unclear. Greensquare abandoned a separate $1.1 billion data centre proposal in Western Australia earlier this year following sustained community backlash, after the council there recommended rejection over noise concerns. A separate $1.1 billion data centre proposal at Campbellfield in Victoria is also progressing through the fast-track process, Information Age reported. Separately, Victoria’s planning minister faces a queue of nine data centre proposals worth more than $5 billion, with councils calling for a moratorium.