Say no to a Cooks River Data Centre & Logistics hub

NSW is already home to nearly 100 data centres and even more are under construction or in planning. Data centres consume massive amounts of energy, water and land. One of the two proposals for the Cooks Cove redevelopment, at the old Kogarah Golf Course, recommends the construction of a data centre on the Cooks River. Residents are already voicing concerns about the impacts of a data centre on their community.

Data centres run 24 hours a day, seven days a week, draw on enormous quantities of power and water, and have significant impacts on the local environment, liveability, air quality and community health. Given its proposed location in an ecologically sensitive corridor, the chemical, light, and noise pollution from the redevelopment, and proposed data centre could seriously disturb the local ecosystem, including migratory water birds and the Flying Fox Colony located nearby at Turrella Reserve.

The Cooks River is already one of NSW's most contaminated waterways. It has languished for years without investment by the state government, despite decades of community efforts to restore and improve the health of the river. This $2.9 billion development proposes no initiatives to improve the health of the Cooks River.

The development also proposed the removal of nearly 800 mature native trees, and to clear huge rafts of open space to make way for 20 story tall logistics centres. With the increasing development in Sydney’s Inner City, the State Government must do everything it can to preserve our shrinking public open space, particularly in ecologically sensitive corridors.

The NSW government must listen to the local community and the dire need to improve the health of the Cooks River, and ensure this redevelopment does not include a data centre on this location. We can do so much better to use this space for public good and community health.

References:

Say no to a Cooks River Data Centre & Logistics hub

The NSW government must listen to the local community and the dire need to improve the health of the Cooks River.