Amazon has received approval to build a massive data center next to the M25 motorway, despite concerns regarding its environmental impact.
The project will replace 17 industrial and warehouse units at the Ridgeway Distribution Centre in Iver, Buckinghamshire.
Although the Iver Parish Council stated that the building would negatively affect air quality and traffic, Buckinghamshire Council approved the plans on Monday.
Officials concluded that the need for the data center, the employment benefits, and the projected reduction in vehicle movements outweighed other considerations.
The main data center building stands approximately 20 meters (65 feet) tall.
The 18-acre (7.3-hectare) project also includes substations, water tanks, a generator building, security fencing, and parking areas.
According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, the parish council neither supported nor opposed the application but requested improvements to walking routes—including the canal towpath—and called for the use of low-emission vehicles during construction.
The site is located within an Air Quality Management Area, and the council’s environmental health team noted that the 27 backup generators would produce emissions during routine testing and maintenance.
Air quality modeling predicts that the impact on air quality at the assessed site would be negligible, though officials noted that this does not mean the development would have no impact at all.
A legal agreement secures £600,382 for projects to offset air pollution at the site.
It also requires the creation of a plan to monitor emissions from the generators, which will primarily run on hydrotreated vegetable oil, with diesel serving as a backup fuel.
Amazon has also agreed to contribute £73,000 toward improvements to public rights of way.
Buckinghamshire Council had previously rejected plans to build a data centre on Green Belt land at the Court Lane industrial estate in Iver, but Housing Secretary Angela Rayner overturned that decision.
However, the government admitted this year that granting planning permission for a data centre at the nearby Woodlands Park landfill site—an application that had previously been refused by the relevant authorities—was a mistake.
Regarding the latest proposal, Buckinghamshire Council stated: “We have nothing further to add.”
Amazon stated it would not “issue a statement for the media,” but planning documents estimate that the project site will provide 60 full-time jobs, in addition to employment opportunities created during construction.