Naas residents urge councilors to reconsider date centre zoning

RESIDENTS in the Jigginstown area in Naas have come together to challenge the zoning of lands near their homes for data centres.

The Naas residents say they will be immediately impacted by the proposed data centres if they go ahead.

They have joined together to lobby their local councillors as they feel their voices are not being heard and are being drowned out by national party policy positions and misinformation.

The residents believe their local representatives are not engaging with them. They’ve been reading reports in the media that there’s no issue but counter that there is evidence showing that there is an issue with data centres.

There is a local campaign to change the zoning for land earmarked for a data centre.

The land was zoned in 2021 and locals say it was based on limited information and new information has come to light which warrants rezoning these sites.

They point to the controversial data centre in Clondalkin as a “warning” to Kildare.

“Clondalkin is the warning: families reporting night-time noise, lost sleep and a diminished quality of life while an EPA investigation is under way. Naas must not wait until the harm is real and irreversible” said one Jigginstown resident.

The issue is a lack of information on the topic contends Naas resident, Janine Plumber;

“Like many people, I was unconcerned about a data centre in Naas until I saw the report on the data centre in Clondalkin.

“It's horrifying the noise that the locals have to put up with 24 hours a day, every day of the year. The P2 data centre will impact half of Naas. That's roughly 10,000 people impacted by noise and air pollution.” The lands were originally agricultural and were zoned for data centre use several years ago, at a time when limited public information existed about the environmental and acoustic impacts of such facilities.

Since then, significant new evidence has emerged showing that data centres can negatively affect residential quality of life.

The group argues that data centres pose a problem in residential areas but some officials and legislators are just opposed to engaging with the facts that new evidence reveals.

Primrose Garden resident and creator of Jigginstown.ie, James Gallagher, said;

“I created Jigginstown.ie because residents deserve to know what this zoning could mean for the communities living beside P2, and where each of Kildare’s 40 councillors stands before the vote, not after it.

“The site brings the evidence, source links, councillor tracker and contact tools together in one place, so people can understand the issue and make their own voices heard.

“This decision could shape our community for generations. Residents should not have to be planning experts to take part in it. All we are asking for is a proper review, based on what we know today.” When the area plan was updated in 2021, residents claim that they were not meaningfully engaged. Nobody knew that the farmland fields next door to them were being zoned for data centres.

They argue, when something this big happens, local representatives get in touch with the residents’ association and give them a heads-up so that they can lodge an objection and in this case it did not happen.

If similar facilities proceed beside the M7 Business Park and Jigginstown sites, an estimated 10,000 to 12,000 residents in Naas could fall within this impact zone.

The noise is persistent and detectable within a minimum radius of 2 kilometres of the Clondalkin site which is why Janine Plumber finds accusations of NIMBYisim distasteful.

“I don't want this in my backyard. I also don't want it in anyone else’s backyard. The data centre should be located in an industrial site and not in a residential area.” The group understands that very few of their local representatives live in the impact zone which is why they’re being asked to put themselves in the residents’ shoes and to empathise with their constituents.

The group members are also grateful to the councillors who’ve come out in favour of amending the zonings for the area plan.

Janine Plumber is a remote worker and she said she just can’t imagine being able to do her job while the construction work commences not far from her home. “The years of construction noise followed by 24/7, 365 noise from the data centre is going to have a detrimental impact on people's health. I am deeply concerned about people with young kids living near this site.” Naas resident, James Gallagher agreed: “No parent should have to wonder what years of construction dust, heavy traffic and possible generator emissions could mean for a child with asthma.

“Kildare County Council should establish that this is the right location before asking families to accept that uncertainty.” The proposed sites are understood to be three times the size of Croke Park, representing a major industrial footprint placed directly beside established residential neighbourhoods.

The group note that for all the potential disruption it will mean developments that provide relatively few long term jobs.

Some residents, with young families and large mortgages, are terrified they’re going to be trapped beside an indefinite noise nuisance plummeting them into negative equity.

Naas homeowner, Nicolò Wojewoda said she felt that “Kildare County Council is rolling out the red carpet for power-hungry and water-guzzling data centres, while people in Naas are asked to put up with hosepipe bans, higher electricity bills, and summers that get drier every year as this industry’s impact on our climate grows. Councillors have a chance to strike this zoning out of the local area plan, and show they represent our communities rather than profit-chasing tech companies”.

The group is urging residents, businesses and organisations alike in the Naas urban area as well as across the county to stand up against data centres being inappropriately zoned beside residential areas.

The next vote takes place on Monday 28 September. It’s an important date for Naas people, as all 40 Kildare County Councillors can vote on whether the Naas lands are rezoned or not.

“We are not asking councillors to oppose technology or investment. We are asking them one simple question: knowing what we know today, would you still choose this location?” said James Gallagher.

He backs this up further.

“What I keep coming back to is that Kildare County Council called the existing zoning sufficient, then just 27 days later supported extending it for commercial viability. Residents still haven’t been told clearly what changed. If the decision was based on strong evidence, then a proper review should confirm that. Why are they so reluctant to look again?” Kildare County Council designated two sites exclusively for data centres while saying their cooling-water demand was too uncertain to assess properly at plan stage?

“That is exactly the kind of unresolved question a review should examine”, said Mr Gallagher.

People don’t have to be from Naas to object to their councillors, the group said. All Kildare county councillors can vote to rezone this land out of the hands of data centres and all Kildare people can have a say.

The group said it’s not just homes adjacent to the zoned land that are affected, that it impacts all of Naas and affects everybody within a 2 km radius minimum of the data centre sites.

The Jigginstown group is urging all Kildare people to get in touch with their councillors to ask them to support the motion to rezone lands beside these residential areas away from data centre use.

Councillors emails can be found at the county council website.

Concerned members of the public can also sign a petition to rezone the lands at change.org by searching ‘Stop the data center development in Naas, Co Kildare’. More information can be found at https://jigginstown.ie.