News broke this afternoon that Waterford City and County Council has decided to reject the application on behalf of Echelon DC to develop a large data centre on the site of the old cheese factory at Kilmeaden.
As I reported on Monday, here, the proposal, which would encompass almost 270 acres, has met with considerable local opposition that culminated in a slow traffic protest on Saturday. The local organisers claim that they have overwhelming support from the village as evidenced by a petition that was signed by the vast majority of households.
While the overall issues of electricity and water usage and costs featured in the campaign the main theme is the sense of a rural community that was proposed to be turned upside down without any guarantee that the claimed benefits in jobs and other ways would outweigh that.
That is clearly a view that has begun not only to take hold across the state but to influence the decisions of local authorities. The decision by Waterford follows soon after a similar rejection of a data centre in Mayo.
I have been informed that a key factor in the decision by the planners had to do with the details of power supply to the site. I shall provide more details on the decision as they come to hand.