The green light for a planned new data centreon a site near Drogheda in Co Louth “would further compromise our ability to achieve compliance with our carbon budget limits”, An Taisce has said.
The heritage group has called on Louth Co Council to refuse Premier Pericase Ltd (PPL) planning permission for the three-storey data centre as part of a mixed-use industrial campus at Boyne Avenue, Newtownstalaban, Drogheda.
Planning officer with An Taisce Seán O’Callaghan and senior planning and environmental policy officer Phoebe Duvall have told the council that a grant of permission “would facilitate a breach of the emissions reduction obligations under the Climate Act”.
However, in planning documents lodged with the application, planning consultants the PM Group said that the proposed regeneration of the site would “represent a major improvement in the overall industrial carbon emissions for the county and for the region”.
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They said the first phase of energy infrastructure and data centre development was “intended to act as a catalyst for the wider redevelopment of the overall landholding for a mix of high technology, manufacturing, and commercial uses, based on a local energy and heat network on site”.
PPL has operated a magnesia and magnesium hydroxide production facility at the site and production was scaled back due to the rises in the price of gas resulting from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Local group Protect East Meath told the council in its submission that it was “particularly concerned that this project would lead to increased greenhouse gas emissions which would exceed the State’s carbon budget and sectoral emissions ceilings and/or prevent it complying with those emissions limits”.
A number of submissions have also been lodged in support of the campus.
The chief executive of Love Drogheda Business Improvement District, Trevor Connolly, said that “the repurposing and modernisation of the Premier Periclase site would eliminate a long-standing blight, replacing it with a visually appealing and thoughtfully designed campus”.
Mr Connolly said that “by bringing economic activity back to this site, the redevelopment will create numerous employment opportunities for residents with an opportunity for future growth, diversification and enterprise on this site”.
Stuart Jackson of Flaxton Ltd, which owns a site adjoining the PPL site, told the council that “given the significant financial investment that the new owners intend to make if the planning application is successful, it is likely that the regeneration of the PPL site will act as a powerful catalyst for the growth of Drogheda”.
A decision is due on the application next month.
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