Stockland Drops AI Data Centre From Its Cooks River Logistics Hub After Community Campaign
Developers Stockland and John Boyd Properties have dropped an AI data centre from their planned logistics hub on the Cooks River at Arncliffe in Sydney’s south, ABC News reported on November 8, after months of opposition from residents. The partners had proposed redeveloping the rezoned 18.3-hectare former Kogarah Golf Club site into a precinct estimated at $3.5 billion that included a data centre, a plan that drew backlash after it became public in July last year.
A Stockland spokesperson said the partners were now focused on a “world class logistics precinct” that does not include a data centre under an amended concept masterplan, arguing that the site’s position on the doorstep of Sydney Airport and close to Port Botany made it well suited to logistics and possibly retail and hospitality. The company said the project would still deliver a one-kilometre public foreshore link along the river, the future 14-hectare Pemulwuy Park and local road and active transport upgrades.
The community group Stop the Cooks River AI Project, known as SCRAP, which formed in August and has hundreds of members, called the reversal a “very good win for people power”. Organiser Paddy Gibson told the ABC the development would have threatened the fragile ecology of the river, known as Goolay’yari in local Indigenous languages, including endangered plants and animals, and raised concerns about power use and possible water contamination. Bayside Greens councillor Peter Strong, who led council’s opposition, said the decision showed councils should have more of a veto over data centres.
What it means in practice
The withdrawal is the latest in a run of Sydney projects abandoned after local pushback, including an AirTrunk data centre at Lane Cove and another at Guildford in September, while Merrylands residents continue to fight Goodman Group’s $1.1 billion Project Pluto. It mirrors fights elsewhere, such as the Adelaide Hills rally against Quantum DC’s 1,200MW proposal at Tungkillo, and lands as Canberra weighs reported plans to keep AI data centres away from homes and tie them to renewable power.
The NSW Government released its data centre policy framework in August, but a parliamentary inquiry report said the guidelines should have been in place before planning fast-track processes were created, and the government has until February to respond. What to watch is that response, whether SCRAP’s campaign against the logistics hub itself gains traction, and whether other developers quietly redesign projects to avoid similar fights.