Havering Council is wasting public resources attempting to bring forward this development in London’s protected Green Belt

We were very concerned to see the recent announcement that Havering Council’s cabinet has agreed to ‘move forward’ with a project to develop a Digital Reef site on Green Belt land in the London Borough of Havering. Cabinet endorse East Havering £5.3bn datacentre opportunity | The London Borough Of Havering

The proposals clearly constitute inappropriate development on Green Belt and run entirely counter to national, London and local planning polices. Green Belt protections exist for an important reason – to control sprawl which is hugely environmentally damaging and leads to traffic congestion, pollution and loss of productive land which also absorbs rainfall and cools air temperatures. The Metropolitan Green Belt is literally London’s ‘climate safety belt’. We are amazed the council has agreed to sink valuable time into developing a proposal which will cause massive environmental damage, is highly unlikely to gain permission and is proposed in a highly unsustainable location, car-dependent as it is.

Development should be located on land designated for industrial and commercial uses within existing urban areas, plenty of which are in desperate need of regeneration and modernisation. Developers and councils are wasting valuable resources pushing for Green Belt developments which are very unlikely to gain permission. Even if the borough accepts a case for the ‘exceptional circumstances’ needed to release Green Belt for development, it is highly unlikely the London Mayor would sanction such a development given London Plan policy on Green Belt. A more appropriate course would be to work with developers and landowners to establish a site of previously developed land, in a sustainable location, which needs this type of investment.

We have written to the borough asking that it ceases using public resources to bring forward this inappropriate development and works instead to find an appropriate alternative location.