{"id":956948,"date":"2026-11-08T10:34:40","date_gmt":"2026-11-08T10:34:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/956948\/"},"modified":"2026-11-08T10:34:40","modified_gmt":"2026-11-08T10:34:40","slug":"controversial-sydney-ai-data-centre-at-cooks-river-scrapped-following-community-backlash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/956948\/","title":{"rendered":"Controversial Sydney AI data centre at Cooks River scrapped following community backlash"},"content":{"rendered":"

Plans for another controversial AI data centre in Sydney have been scrapped, with a community group hailing the decision as a “victory for people power”.<\/p>\n

The facility, which was set to become part of a proposed logistics hub on the Cooks River at Arncliffe in the city’s south, faced backlash from the local community after it was revealed in July last year.<\/p>\n

Developers Stockland and John Boyd Properties proposed to redevelop the rezoned 18.3-hectare Kogarah Golf Club site into an estimated $3.5 billion logistics precinct including an AI data centre.<\/p>\n

\"an<\/p>\n

Stockland and John Boyd Properties withdrew their plans for the AI data centre. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

Stop the Cooks River AI Project (SCRAP), which consists of hundreds of members, had been protesting against the development since forming in August.<\/p>\n

‘We were worried’<\/p>\n

Group organiser Paddy Gibson said surrounding residents were celebrating the “very good win for people power”.<\/p>\n

“People really love this river and we’re just horrified to hear that it could be threatened in this way,” he said.<\/p>\n

Mr Gibson said it would have posed a risk to the fragile local ecology around the river, which is called Goolay’yari in local Indigenous languages<\/a>, which was already recovering from “industrialisation over the years”.<\/p>\n

“There’s endangered plants and other animal species in the green space,” he said.<\/p>\n

“There’s plenty of people trying to work on remediating what is a very polluted river, and we were worried that this would set back those efforts.”<\/p>\n

\"activist<\/p>\n

Paddy Gibson says there are endangered plants and other animal species at the proposed data centre site. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

He also mentioned concerns about power usage and possible water contamination.<\/p>\n

A Stockland spokesperson said the partners were now focused on building a “world class logistics precinct which does not include a data centre as part of the amended Concept Masterplan”.<\/p>\n

“The site is on the doorstep of Sydney Airport and in close proximity to Port Botany and major transport infrastructure, making it uniquely suited for a logistics hub and has potential for mixed uses, like retail and hospitality,” they said.<\/p>\n

“The project will also deliver a one-kilometre public foreshore link along the Cooks River and the future delivery of the 14-hectare Pemulwuy Park, as well as local road upgrades and improved active transport connections.”<\/p>\n

The spokesperson said the group would continue to engage openly with stakeholders as planning for the logistics precinct progressed.<\/p>\n

‘A wildlife sanctuary’<\/p>\n

Bayside Greens councillor Peter Strong who had led council’s opposition to the project said the decision was “very heartening”.<\/p>\n

Mr Strong said forums and outdoor events about the project had attracted large numbers of residents.<\/p>\n

His main concerns were about excess energy and water use, noise, and the way AI was being “used and weaponised against the best wishes of humanity”.<\/p>\n

“That space has become a bit of a wildlife sanctuary since nothing much has happened with the old Kogarah Golf Club since they sold it,” Mr Strong said.<\/p>\n

\"an<\/p>\n

Locals were concerned with the impact on water use and energy. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

He said the withdrawal sent a message to the state government that “the council should have more of a veto on these data centres”.<\/p>\n

In August, the Minns government released its data centre policy framework<\/a> which they said balanced the interests of households and investment in NSW.<\/p>\n

A recent report following a parliamentary inquiry into data centres noted that the guidelines should have been in place “before developing any planning fast-track processes for these projects”.<\/p>\n

The government has until February next year to respond to the report.<\/p>\n

Canterbury Labor MP Sophie Cotsis said she looked forward to seeing the revised logistics hub masterplan including a public foreshore link, road upgrades and improved active transport connections.<\/p>\n

“The Minns Labor Government has established the Cooks River Consolidation Project to resolve longstanding tenure issues along the river,” she said.<\/p>\n

“As the local MP I am focused on working together with my colleagues and government agencies to see investment in the naturalisation of the river banks.”<\/p>\n

AI data centre pushback\"A<\/p>\n

Protesters at Merrylands rallying against a proposed AI data centre. (ABC News: Alex Lewis)<\/p>\n

It is the latest in a series of proposed data centres to be scrapped following community opposition.<\/p>\n

An AirTrunk data centre proposed in Lane Cove was also dropped, and another in Guildford in September.<\/p>\n

Residents at Merrylands in Western Sydney have also rallied against the $1.1 billion Project Pluto Data Centre proposed by the Goodman Group, to be located next to the Guildford West Sportsground.<\/p>\n

Labelled a state-significant development, locals said it was approved in July behind their backs.<\/p>\n

The project did not receive a single submission from the public, with some locals saying they never received a letter.<\/p>\n

Goodman Group said it had sent correspondence to more than 1,200 homes and businesses, three times.<\/p>\n

SCRAP said it would continue campaigning against the logistics hub on the riverfront and for a ban on all new AI data centres.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Plans for another controversial AI data centre in Sydney have been scrapped, with a community group hailing the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":956949,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[256,361187,524240,524238,64,63,99,286744,524237,524241,276896,245502,2733,524242,9409,93681,524239,348921],"class_list":["post-956948","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-ai","tag-ai-data-centre","tag-airtrunk-data-centre","tag-arncliffe","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-business","tag-cooks-river","tag-data-centre-scrapped","tag-kogarah-golf-club","tag-lane-cove","tag-merrylands","tag-nsw","tag-project-pluto-data-centre","tag-scrap","tag-stockland","tag-stop-the-cooks-river-ai-project","tag-sydney-data-centre"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/956948","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=956948"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/956948\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/956949"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=956948"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=956948"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=956948"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}