The 130ft-high data centre using same energy as a large city: Fury over 'unethical' plans for AI warehouse that overlooks commuter town's Jewish cemetery and towers over homes

Plans to build a 130ft-high data centre that would overlook a Jewish cemetery and use the same amount of electricity as Sheffield have been condemned as 'unethical' and 'irresponsible' by residents.

The huge AI warehouse in the London commuter town of Bushey in Hertfordshire is set to be built on the site of an 'irreplaceable' orchard and a former hotel, with neighbours facing up to a decade of construction work.

It is expected to use up to 764million litres of water a year – the equivalent consumption of 15,000 people – and 1,900GWh of electricity, more than four times the amount currently consumed by homeowners and businesses in the borough.

Opposite the proposed site is a cemetery which holds some of the country's most esteemed Jewish figures, including the former Chief Rabbi Lord Sacks.

One resident, who did not want to be named but whose mother and grandparents are buried at the cemetery, told the Daily Mail that the planned data centre threatened to 'upend' the peaceful surroundings afforded at the site for grieving relatives.

She said: 'The cemetery provides a place of solace and quiet reflection in a countryside setting. Many like to come here, say prayers and take a moment to remember their loved ones.

'How can the council knowingly give the green light to a data centre so close to a cemetery? It's distressing and unethical.' 

Plans for the data centre include four towers which could rise to 130ft 

Developers have submitted plans to build a data centre on formerly green-belt land which would use electricity at a rate comparable to all of Sheffield

Half the site is currently taken up by a former hotel which borders a traveller site (top right). Some residents there could be left living just metres from the data centre

Staff at the cemetery – which held the first public burial of Holocaust victims in Britain in 2019 – told the Daily Mail they had concerns about their electricity supply.

On the other side of the proposed data centre is a traveller site, some of whose 200 residents will be just 15ft from the development.

Gate, a charity which represents travellers, told the council that the data centre would bring 'unacceptable harm' to those living on the site, adding overall the project would 'undermine residents' quality of life, privacy and enjoyment of their homes'. 

Nearby homeowners told the Mail they were concerned about how the data centre would affect the area in terms of electricity, water, ambient noise and traffic disruption during construction.

Greg Rogers, who lives in nearby Letchmore Heath, said it would be 'irresponsible' of the council to let the application proceed 'without due consideration of where the water and electricity will come from'.

He added: 'The Government needs to take a step back and really consider what these (data centres) are going to be used for. If it’s the defence of the realm then fine but if it’s to ensure that Amazon will be able to target us better that is not OK.'

Mr Rogers said the application was 'a huge irritant' but added: 'It's a worry because there doesn't seem to have been due consideration of how this is going to impact us.

'It seems like it is being rammed through for an agenda that is nothing to do with Hertsmere.'

Bulldozers had arrived to demolish the existing vacant hotel when the Mail visited the site

Janet Engels, of the Letchmore Heath Village Trust, said it was unclear from the plans whether consumers or businesses would be prioritised if the data centre put pressure on electricity or water supplies.

'This is going to use a huge amount of water,' she said.

'The problem with that is we don't actually know what the legal position would be if we had a water shortage, which we have at the moment.

'We're all on those pipelines but what happens if a data centre contracts to take water from a supplier? Presumably, we residents are just customers: we either get it or we don't.'

Speaking about the orchard which takes up more than half the site, Mrs Engels said the developers planned to 'strip it virtually bare'.

The site had been earmarked for a now-expired application to build a warehouse, which had controversially given up the orchard for development, but Mrs Engels said the previous applicants 'were still leaving more greenery than these guys'.

Janet Engels said it was unclear who would be prioritised in the area if electricity ran short

The towers are set to rise far above the level of the hotel

Alison Rubinson, of the nearby Radlett Society and Green Belt Association, said the orchard was 'irreplaceable' and had been recognised as an important site for wildlife.

She said the data centre would result in an 'unacceptable loss' of woodland and would mean the council had 'failed' to protect local wildlife. 

'Having lived in Radlett for 40 years I am annoyed at the opportunist developers for proposing this overbearing, inappropriate development,' she said.

'Residents' views do not seem to carry much weight any more.'

Mrs Engels added the character of the area would be threatened by the 'sheer height' of the planned towers.

'I think that's the worst thing from a visual point of view, but then there are also these environmental issues.' 

The vacant hotel currently on half the site rises to two storeys at its highest and is set back from the road.

Demolition of the hotel has already begun and there are further concerns over the impact of a potential ten-year construction period for the data centre. 

Mrs Engels said: 'The build is supposed to be ten years. If you live 10m away, then you're going to have ten years of dust and disruption.' 

She added: 'For us, it's not necessarily a question of do we need data centres - we clearly need them. It's how many do we need and where should they go?'

Her residents' group supports pausing a decision on the application until the publication of a report by the House of Commons environmental audit committee into their effects.

Resident Alison Rubinson said the towers would take up space which is currently an 'irreplaceable' orchard

The data centre will also overlook a Jewish cemetery across the road, as pictured in the developers' visualisation images

The rural cemetery currently has an open view of the sky

But she said projects such as that on the Bushey site were led by developers 'who buy a piece of land and want to maximise it'.

Data centres are under fire internationally for their environmental effects, and are already subject to moratoriums in US states including Democrat-run New York and Republican Texas.

In Scotland the SNP administration is reportedly considering its own ban.

But for the last two years the Westminster Government has allowed data centres in England to be designated as critical national infrastructure, allowing plans to sidestep restrictions on other forms of development.

In 2024 data centres in Britain used around 2,400GWh of energy, 2 per cent of the country's total consumption, a figure which grew to 2.5 per cent by July this year.

Less than six miles from the proposed data centre in Bushey, US tech firm Equinix is set to build a £3.9billion 85-acre campus in Potters Bar.

When approached by the Mail about the Bushey site, Hertsmere Council said: 'The planning application is currently pending determination.

'Residents' concerns, along with all other relevant material planning considerations, will be taken into account as part of the council's assessment of the application.

'As the application remains under consideration, it would not be appropriate for the council to comment further at this stage.'