Ryde Residents Speak Out Against Data Centre Proposal
Due to zoning regulations, the City of Ryde has been experiencing an unprecedented boom in tech, but now locals are pushing back as another mega proposal is being reviewed. Ryde residents are fiercely opposed to the new project, with rapidly mounting concerns about the constant noise, damage to property value, visual pollution, and environmental concerns.
Ryde’s Tech Boom
With proposals on the table and recent data centre projects within Ryde, one massive project on Julius Avenue has Ryde residents up in arms. ISPT’s proposed $1.8 billion, 170MW facility is a six-story project set to house backup generators, an Ausgrid switching station, and 12 data halls. However, it can’t move forward without the removal of more than 500 trees, which will have a serious impact on the Sydney Coastal Enriched Sandstone Forest, located near the Lane Cove National Park.
While Project Apollo is awaiting approval or denial for scale-up regional tech capacity, Stockland’s proposal for a six-storey, 19,434 square metre data centre was approved in March of 2026 and in 2024, the Talavera Road Campus was approved for ongoing operations and expansion to create a cluster of data infrastructure.
Decision-Making Powers
The City of Ryde council isn’t the one with the decision-making authority here; the decisions lie with the New South Wales Government, and resident groups and the local council have been actively lobbying the government to freeze new approvals. There are concerns about the cumulative strain on Sydney’s electricity grids, but there are also concerns around losing bushland buffers and water resources.
These are not hypothetical concerns. According to BBC News reporting, residents in Mansfield, Georgia, have experienced severe water pressure drops and sediment runoff in private wells due to a neighbouring hyperscale facility. Advocacy groups have flagged brown sediment and cloudy water, as well as chemical sludge leaching into local creek systems from active construction sites.
The Cloud has to live somewhere, and right now, the majority of the world’s data centres are located in the United States, Germany and the United Kingdom. Now, AI is driving online activity, and with that surge, the number of data centres cropping up is increasing, and with every new centre comes a host of complaints for residents.
Local trade experts echo the concerns around tech expansion outpacing the capabilities of local utilities.
“City of Ryde has excellent power and technology infrastructure, and because it’s zoned for E3 and E4 construction, it’s become a favourite location for new data centres. Developers, council, and the state government must consider water infrastructure and the impact on residents before they approve all these new data centres,” said Veteran City of Ryde Plumber, Joe Rantino.
With the rapid expansion of AI and cloud infrastructure across the state, residents are being urged to review the full project applications along with the environmental impact statements. Community submissions can be lodged via the NSW Planning Portal, allowing residents to have their say and take steps to protect Ryde’s most vital asset: water.
