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AI Data Centres Are Springing Up in Communities. Why Residents Are Fighting Back

Residents in Lane Cove West mobilised against a proposed Goodman data centre planned close to homes and a primary school. The project was later withdrawn, with no public reason reported.
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Residents in Lane Cove West, Sydney, mobilised against Goodman Group’s proposed Project Mars data centre after learning it was planned close to homes and a primary school. A report says the three-storey facility would have stood 16 metres from one resident’s home. Goodman later withdrew the proposal, but the report gives no public explanation for the decision.

What happened in Lane Cove West?

Zotpaper’s October 3, 2026 report, citing the Sydney Morning Herald, Brisbane Times, The Age and WAtoday, identifies Project Mars as a proposed Goodman Group data centre in the Lane Cove West business park. The account describes a three-storey facility planned near a primary school and 16 metres from the home of resident Shavarsh Bedrossian. That distance is a reported detail about this proposal, not a typical or national measure for data centres. Source report

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The same account says Bedrossian and neighbours contacted Lane Cove Council and a local member of parliament to object to the proposal’s proximity and possible local effects. The available reporting does not establish a fuller timeline or document additional campaign tactics. Residents’ response

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Why are residents challenging data centre projects?

Data centres can prompt local scrutiny because they bring questions about where large facilities are sited and what demands they may place on surrounding infrastructure. A July 12, 2026 7NEWS Spotlight episode description frames Australian opposition around electricity and water demand, infrastructure, pollution, proximity to homes and public scrutiny. It also mentions the NSW Southern Highlands, Melbourne and Loudoun County, Virginia. Those are themes in broader reporting, not measured impacts established for Project Mars. 7NEWS Spotlight episode description

For residents assessing a specific proposal, the practical questions are local: how close would the facility be to homes or schools; what noise or traffic effects are forecast; what electricity and water requirements are disclosed; what infrastructure changes are involved; and how can the community review and respond to the planning process? The available material does not provide quantified answers to those questions for Lane Cove.

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What does Project Mars’s withdrawal tell us?

The report says Goodman withdrew the proposal, but does not state that residents’ objections caused the withdrawal. It also says the company gave no public reason. The sequence is therefore clear only in part: residents objected, and the proposal was later withdrawn; the company’s rationale and the role, if any, of the objections remain unknown in the cited account. Withdrawal reporting

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