Google meets the neighbors and gets both barrels over its new UK datacenter
Jump to main content
Search
REG AD
ON-PREM
Google meets the neighbors and gets both barrels over its new UK datacenter
The Reg was there as locals aired grievances over poor communication, noise, and light pollution at Waltham Cross facility
Dan Robinson
Dan<br>Robinson
IT INFRASTRUCTURE REPORTER
Published<br>fri 24 Jul 2026 // 09:30 UTC
EXCLUSIVE Google invited residents living near its newly built datacenter north of London to meet the team at the local council offices on Wednesday evening – and was met with a barrage of complaints about poor consultation, noise, and light pollution.<br>The Waltham Cross Datacenter (WXT), which was officially opened last year, sits on a 33-acre (133,546 m²) site north of the M25 motorway that encircles London. It is expected to provide up to 77 MW of IT capacity when full, but it is currently nowhere near this level, according to Google.
Google's Waltham Cross datacenter in Hertfordshire<br>SECNewgate
Given the site is now operational, the event was intended to introduce the team managing what Google touts as the cloud and search giant's first UK-owned and operated facility.
REG AD
But in somewhat shambolic and often rowdy proceedings, it was clear that some residents were not happy with the datacenter on their doorstep, and many had misgivings about the effect it may have on their area.
REG AD
One complaint raised several times was that locals felt there had been poor communication about the project, and that they had not been sufficiently consulted about it before approval was granted for construction to go ahead.<br>This was directed at representatives present from the local Broxbourne Borough Council as much as Google, with one resident claiming: "We haven't had the opportunity to object," and "if you'd listened to people, we wouldn't be here right now."<br>The council and Google maintain that all proper procedures were followed. It is understood that a planning application for a datacenter on the land was filed as far back as 2018, but that was before Google acquired the land for £33 million ($44 million) in 2020. The final reserved-matters application was approved on November 30, 2023.<br>However, one attendee at the meeting offered his opinion that "the council didn't maybe advertise the consultation process vigorously," adding: "I don't think anything was done effectively. If you're working in planning, you would have planned this better."<br>As one of the council representatives revealed that only 12 people showed up to the previous public meeting regarding the Waltham Cross facility, perhaps the locals have a point about poor communication.<br>Another complaint was about noise, with one resident saying they could hear a distinct hum coming from the site, particularly in the evening. Others agreed, and it seems to be a common issue with datacenter sites around the world, with cooling infrastructure often blamed.<br>Also earning the ire of people in the packed room at Broxbourne Council Offices was the lighting, which one local said was shining right into their bedrooms all night. Again, this is a recognized downside for people living close to bit barn facilities.<br>Dan Dale, server operations site manager for Google, explained that the company was in the midst of certain projects related to lighting, "so that they won't be on all the time. They will be on when needed and when access is required." Dale said he expects the situation to improve and Google had tried to angle lighting down as much as possible at the site.
REG AD
One attendee asked about effects on the environment, particularly heat from the datacenter. A University of Cambridge-led preprint earlier this year claimed that datacenters create heat islands, raising surrounding temperatures by several degrees at distances up to 10 km (over 6 miles).<br>Had there been an environmental impact study? Yes, that was submitted as part of the planning application. "We are constantly monitored to make sure that we are in line with environmental permits and that we do meet what we set out to meet in the very beginning," Dale said.
MORE CONTEXT
Britain isn't considering datacenters' thirst for water in its 'AI superpower' ambitions
UK guts planning red tape so datacenters can bypass the neighbors faster
NIMBY pushback begins to bite US datacenter buildout
Datacenters have a public image problem, industry confesses to The Reg
With parts of southern, central, and eastern England close to drought conditions this summer, water consumption is on many people's minds. Google's datacenter team were clearly prepared for this one, and came ready with slides detailing the new facility's closed-loop chiller system, which they insisted means that "water consumption is not a concern."<br>"So, with our datacenter, what we have is a closed-loop cooling," explained Tihomir Lazic, DCOps site manager. "It's a system of cooling where we have a loop of water pipes which...