Osegi
Business·2 min read

Bikers and Bug Campaigners Unite Against Google's Thurrock Data Center

An unlikely alliance of wildlife groups, climate campaigners and a motorcycle club is fighting Google's planned data center in Thurrock, east of London.

Protesters hold placards outside Google's UK headquarters in London, urging the company to build its data center elsewhere.
Image: WIRED
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An unlikely coalition of conservationists, climate campaigners and motorcycle racers is trying to stop Google from building a large data center campus in Thurrock, 15 miles east of London. Last Wednesday, Jamie Robins of the wildlife charity Buglife delivered a letter detailing a petition with almost 55,000 signatures to Google's UK headquarters in Kings Cross, while protesters held placards telling the company to "search elsewhere".

Three groups, three objections

Buglife and local wildlife groups say the site is home to an endangered plant, a rare bumblebee and other invertebrates whose habitat would be destroyed. The nonprofit Foxglove argues the facility would pollute too much, citing up to 570,000 tonnes of emissions a year, which it claims the UK government's carbon budget cannot accommodate. The Thurrock Hammers motorcycle club wants to return to racing on the site, where the remnants of the disused Arena Essex stadium still stand.

"We're an outlier. We object on different grounds," says Mark Sexton, the club's director. He believes that is why the alliance has drawn attention.

Google bought the land through a subsidiary in 2023 and applied for permission to build in May last year. Of about 1,000 public responses sent to the planning authority, only one supported the project, although Thurrock Council says many came from people living outside the area.

Google's response and what comes next

Google says the objections rest on misconceptions. It claims it will deliver a net gain in biodiversity by retaining habitat and moving endangered plants elsewhere, and will offset emissions by financing new renewable generation, aiming for carbon neutrality by 2030. It adds that the racetrack has been out of use for years. "We want to be good neighbors," says Adam Elman, Google's director of sustainability for EMEA.

The protest is part of a wider European wave: in Amsterdam, demonstrators climbed a crane at a Microsoft data center site. Campaigners have also had some successes. Foxglove recently won a legal challenge that forced the UK government to withdraw planning permission for a data center west of London.

Thurrock Council expects to rule on Google's initial application early next year, after which the company must submit a more detailed plan that will face further vetting. Campaigners say they will contest every stage. "It's a war of attrition," says Robins.

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Tags:googledata centerthurrockbuglifefoxgloveuk protest

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