Proposed datacentre developments across London face intense local opposition over environmental impacts and land use. In outer London, the planned £14.7 billion East Havering Data Centre Campus would occupy 218 hectares of green belt land and emit 1.2 million tonnes of carbon dioxide annually, conflicting with net-zero goals. Meanwhile, proposals in Brick Lane and Charlton Riverside clash with local housing demands, highlighting growing tensions between national digital infrastructure expansion and community needs.
East Havering datacentre carbon emissions
- ▪Digital Reef, the developer of the £14.7 billion East Havering Data Centre Campus, stated in planning documents that the project does not align with a science-based 1.5C compatible trajectory.
- ▪By 2038, the operational emissions of the East Havering Data Centre Campus are projected to consume nearly 20 times the carbon budget of the borough of Havering.
- ▪Digital Reef estimates it would pay approximately £77.6 million to Havering's carbon offset fund to compensate for zero-carbon target shortfalls on site.
- ▪The East Havering Data Centre Campus is projected to generate more than 72 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent over its estimated 60-year lifespan.
- ▪The proposed East Havering Data Centre Campus in North Ockendon would generate an estimated 1.2 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent annually once fully operational.
UK datacentre electricity demand
- ▪In February 2026, Ofgem recorded approximately 140 datacentre schemes in the UK pipeline, which together could require 50GW of electricity.
- ▪By early 2025, the UK government estimated datacentres consumed 2.5% of the UK's electricity, with consumption predicted to increase fourfold by 2030.
- ▪At a projected 50% load, the East Havering Data Centre Campus would consume 2.65 billion kWh of electricity annually, equivalent to the demand of over 1 million UK households.
- ▪The UK grid operator, Neso, reported that datacentre developers have requested 72.8GW of electricity connections by 2039, exceeding the UK's peak power demand in 2025 by nearly 60%.
Brick Lane datacentre housing conflict
- ▪Planning documents show the proposed Brick Lane datacentre would serve high-frequency trading with a peak output of 5.2MW, rather than artificial intelligence.
- ▪Residents in east London are opposing a planned 5,200 square metre datacentre at the old Truman Brewery site on Brick Lane, advocating for housing instead.
- ▪Tower Hamlets council rejected the Brick Lane datacentre scheme in 2025, and the UK government is scheduled to rule on the called-in decision by August 17, 2026.
- ▪The Save Brick Lane campaign opposes the proposed datacentre because the local Tower Hamlets council has 31,000 people on its social housing waiting list.
Green belt farmland loss
- ▪The proposed East Havering Data Centre Campus in North Ockendon would occupy 218 hectares of green belt land to run servers for artificial intelligence and cloud computing.
- ▪The North Ockendon Residents Association opposes the East Havering Data Centre Campus, stating it would destroy crop-producing farmland and wildlife habitats.
UK datacentre planning policy changes
- ▪The UK government designated datacentres as critical national infrastructure in 2024, placing them on an equal footing with water, energy, and emergency services.
- ▪In January 2026, UK planning legislation was amended to allow datacentre developers to apply as nationally significant infrastructure projects, bypassing local authority planning procedures.
Charlton Riverside datacentre proposal
- ▪The proposed Charlton Riverside datacentre would require the demolition of three locally listed buildings on the Stone Foundries site and generate an estimated 64,086 tonnes of waste.
- ▪The Charlton Riverside datacentre proposal clashes with plans by Greenwich Council, Transport for London, and the mayor's office to build 8,000 homes in the area.
- ▪Real estate business Tyburn RWC Limited has proposed a 100,000 square metre datacentre on industrial land at Charlton Riverside in south-east London.
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