Stockland drops data centre from Arncliffe masterplan after community campaign

Stockland and John Boyd Properties have pulled a planned data centre from their revised Concept Masterplan for the old Kogarah Golf Club site at Arncliffe, in Sydney's south. The building would have risen four storeys and covered 25,400 square metres, on a parcel of roughly 18.3 hectares beside the Cooks River. The ABC put the value of the wider logistics precinct at about $3.5 billion, and that part of the project continues.

A Stockland spokesperson said the partners are now concentrating on a "world class logistics precinct which does not include a data centre as part of the amended Concept Masterplan". The spokesperson said the location suits logistics because it is near Sydney Airport, Port Botany and major transport links, and could also take uses such as retail and hospitality. The amended plan also offers a public foreshore link of one kilometre along the river, Pemulwuy Park at 14 hectares to be delivered in future, and road and active-transport upgrades. Stockland said it will keep talking with stakeholders as planning for the precinct proceeds.

Stockland has not said that opposition prompted the change, although the ABC reported the decision as a withdrawal following community backlash. According to the ABC, the data centre drew local resistance after it became public in July last year. Stop the Cooks River AI Project (SCRAP), a group with hundreds of members formed in August, campaigned against it. Organiser Paddy Gibson said residents were celebrating a "very good win for people power". He pointed to risks for the river's fragile ecology, along with power use and possible water contamination. SCRAP said it will keep campaigning against the logistics hub on the riverfront and for a ban on all new AI data centres.

Bayside Greens councillor Peter Strong, who led council's opposition, called the outcome "very heartening". He said the withdrawal sent a message to the state government that "the council should have more of a veto on these data centres". The NSW government issued a data centre policy framework in August, and a parliamentary inquiry report said guidelines should have existed "before developing any planning fast-track processes for these projects". The government has until February next year to respond to the report.

The ABC described the decision as the latest in a run of Sydney data centre proposals dropped after community opposition, including an AirTrunk project in Lane Cove and another in Guildford in September. AirTrunk said it will not proceed with a 140MW facility at 16-20 Mars Road, Lane Cove West, next to its SYD2 campus. An AirTrunk spokesperson told Capital Brief that steep terrain and limited scale made the site unsuitable, and that the company is turning to sites including Kurri Kurri and Mickleham. Tech Insider noted that no outlet has reported coordination between Stockland and AirTrunk, or any AirTrunk role at Arncliffe.