COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

South Dublin County Council Crest

MEETING OF DEVELOPMENT PLAN MEETING

Thursday, June 17, 2021

MOTION NO.

MOTION: Councillor M. Duff, Councillor P. Kearns, Councillor Alan Edge

EDE1 Objective 7: Add 'A limit to the number of data centres permitted in the county.'

REPORT:

Dublin is one of the fastest growing data centre markets in Europe with a significant element of this foreign direct investment occurring in South Dublin. It must be acknowledged also the requirement for data centres is increasing with social and technology needs such as 5G, smart cities and artificial intelligence.  Data Centre bring significant direct and indirect economic benefits to the County including a highly skilled workforce. Companies are also benefits to clustering which allows collaboration and sharing of Knowledge.

There are also costs to the clustering of data centres in South Dublin. They are currently one of the most space extensive land use types and the visual and environmental and amenity impacts of such large scale developments can be significant especially in cases where clustering occurs. In addition technology is constantly evolving with cloud computing now shifting to Edge computing and a need for smaller data centres closer to cities and end users is now becoming an issue.

As a strategic document the County Development Plan must take all of these issues into account. In order to address the relevant issues the Plan has provided for the limited consideration of data centres within the zoning use categories. This use is ‘Open For Consideration’ on lands zoned for regeneration uses (REGEN), on lands zoned for employment and enterprise uses (EE) and on lands zoned for Major Retail Uses (MRC).

The ‘Open for Consideration’ categorisation means that each application will be considered on its merits taking into account all relevant issues including the concentration of data centres in the area and the cumulative impacts on the environment of this concentration.

The plan also contains detailed objectives around the limiting of the impact of space intensive developments and associated objectives around the provision of landscaping and GI interventions on all sites. The provisions of the following objectives are noted:

EDE7 Objective 1: “To ensure that, insofar as possible, space extensive enterprise is located on lands which

are outside the M50 and which do not compromise labour intensive opportunity on zoned lands adjacent

to public transport.

EDE7 Objective 2: “To require that space extensive enterprises demonstrate the following:

 

Section 13.7.7 Space Extensive Enterprises

“To require that space extensive enterprises demonstrate the following:

− Strong energy efficiency measures to reduce their carbon footprint in support of national targets for a low carbon economy;

− Measures to support the transition to a circular economy;

− Measures to support district heating or heat networks where excess heat is produced;

− A design approach to buildings which reduce the massing and visual impact;

− A comprehensive understanding of employment once operational;

− A comprehensive understanding of levels of traffic to and from the site once operational.”

Given the complex issues surrounding this type of development, it is considered that the approach taken in the CE draft plan is reasonable and appropriate and provides for a number of development standards by which each application must be assessed.

Recommendation

It is recommended that the motion is not adopted