A fair go for West Footscray residents—your help is needed

Dear supporter and friends,

You may have heard of the recent Victorian Government’s announcement of the Sustainable Data Centre Action Plan.

The regulation addresses the rapid growth of data centres and introduces zoning bans and buffer zones. Data centres are prohibited entirely in residential zones, as well as near schools and childcare facilities and new facilities must maintain a 150-metre separation distance from residential properties.

This planning regulation is not retrospective, meaning it does not apply to existing data centres or planning applications already approved.

The West Footscray residents will continue to have to live near to the hyperscale NEXTDC M3 data centre and the other nearby approved Perri Melbourne Data Centre (PMDC). These data centres would not be allowed under the new regulations. 

The Citizens of Tottenham community group has been working hard to find solutions to the problems caused by NEXTDC M3, including developing a case for a remediation framework. We are also seeking the refusal of the current planning permit application for the NEXTDC M3 expansion and the revocation of the existing approval for the Perri Melbourne Data Centre.

We would like to share our remediation proposal with you so you can understand the measures we believe are needed to address the impacts already being experienced by residents. We are also asking that these concerns and the future of both developments be raised with local Victorian Members of Parliament and the Victorian Planning Minister. 

If you have time, we would greatly appreciate it if you could please write to your local Victorian Member of Parliament expressing your concerns for our situation and supporting our request for a remediation framework.

Below is a template of the letter and here is our remediation request. You can find your local Victorian MP here. 

Thank you. Your time and support is very much appreciated.

The Citizens of Tottenham

______________________________

Dear [insert your local MP]

As a resident of Victoria, I am writing to raise my concerns about the operation and possible expansion of the hyperscale NEXTDC M3 data centre, West Footscray (Ministerial Permit Application PA2604231).

Within 500 metres of NEXTDC M3, and another nearby approved data centre around 200 metres away, Perri Melbourne Data Centre (PMDC), there are homes, a kindergarten and a maternal child health clinic, a primary school and playgrounds.

Together, NEXTDC M3 and PMDC will bring approximately 130 diesel generators and 2.4 million litres of diesel to the West Footscray community. NEXTDC M3 is already approved and operating, with close to 40 diesel generators already installed and operational on the site.

Data centres are known to pose detrimental impacts and potential dangers to the health and wellbeing of nearby residents including fire risks, combustion from diesel generation, urban heat and noise pollution.

I am concerned for the residents of West Footscray and lend my support to the West Footscray community, particularly those who live near to NEXTDC M3 and PMDC, in their request for remediation. 

I also ask you to advocate directly to the Victorian Planning Minister to refuse the current planning permit application for the NEXTDC M3 expansion (PA2604231) and to revoke the planning approval for the Perri Melbourne Data Centre (PA2403320).

These two data centres were approved prior to changes to Victorian Government regulations. They also precede announcements from the Australian Government of future legislation on data centres. Neither NEXTDC M3 or PMDC would be approved under the Victorian Government’s Sustainable Data Centre Action Plan and would unlikely be allowed under future Australian Government regulations.

Smaller data centres similarly sited close to homes, schools and parkland — GreenSquareDC in Hazelmere, Western Australia and Goodman ‘Project Mars’ in Lane Cove, NSW — have been denied approvals or withdrawn. This leaves the situation in West Footscray as an outlier.

The West Footscray community deserve better than having to live near to the data centres simply because the former planning framework did not anticipate AI hyperscale data centres.

I look forward to your response and to seeing Victorian Members of Parliament take action to support the West Footscray community by advocating for remediation, refusal of the NEXTDC M3 expansion application and revocation of the PMDC approval. 

Kind regards,

[Your name]
A concerned resident of Victoria in support of the West Footscray community