This morning, the Sydney Morning Herald and Blue Mountains Gazette confirmed what many of you have been waiting to hear: the Data Centre applicant has announced it will withdraw Development Application X/419/2026 – the plan to build an industrial data centre on Barton Street, Katoomba.
You helped do this. Hundreds of signatures. Dozens of formal objections lodged with Council. Community meetings. Residents staying up to read geotechnical reports. Councillors who listened. And a mayor who called the whole thing exactly what it was:
"This is a welcome, mature reflection from the applicant. I am heartened to hear that the views of the community matter to them. Anything that threatens the local environment in Blue Mountains will raise the ire of our community and of the council." – Mayor Mark Greenhill
And from the community group No Data Centres In Katoomba NDCIK:
"We've been fighting this force that we didn't know we would be able to stop – and this horrible feeling that it would change the whole of our little village." – Jackie Manners, community campaigner
The developer lodged this DA in April. By July, they've stepped back. That doesn't happen without community pressure. It doesn't happen without every one of you who signed, who wrote to council, who shared this petition with a friend.
BUT WE'RE NOT DONE
The developer has been clear: they haven't ruled out a future application. Their statement says they want to 'undertake further consideration' and may come back with a revised proposal – this time with earlier community engagement.
And the bigger issue hasn't gone away. The state government is actively courting data centres for NSW. Treasurer Daniel Mookhey said in March that NSW wants to be 'a destination for global data centre investments.' The planning loophole – Clause 2.31 of the NSW Infrastructure SEPP – that let this DA happen in the first place is still there. It will let the next one happen too, somewhere in NSW. Maybe here again.
Here's what we're asking next:
1. Keep this petition live and growing. We want it in front of the Minister for Planning when we make the case that the Blue Mountains should be exempted from the statewide data centre approval pathway.
2. If a revised DA ever appears, we'll be ready. This campaign has shown that an organised community can move fast. We'll move faster next time.
Share the news today. A story about a community beating a developer is one people wants to hear – and every new signer strengthens the case for fixing the loophole.
This was one small data centre application in one town. But the people who opposed it were looking at something bigger: what kind of place the Blue Mountains is, and who gets to decide what gets built here.
Today, the answer is: the community does.
Thank you.
Stop Data Centres Blue Mountains