300 Protest 101-Acre Data Centre Plan on Menai Strait — SkimNews
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- Canolfan Ddata Menai is seeking to build a complex on a 101-acre site between Caernarfon and Y Felinheli in Gwynedd, claiming it would create over 900 construction jobs and 200 permanent roles on what it calls 'long-derelict' land.
- About 300 protesters gathered in Caernarfon, while more than 22,500 people have signed a petition opposing the scheme, according to the source.
- Local resident Ernest Dyson called the plan 'basically the destruction of the most beautiful part of the Menai Strait,' saying local people are 'custodians' of the area.
- Plaid Cymru MP Liz Saville Roberts backed demands for 'proper regulations' on data centre siting, warning that Wales has 'too long a history of extractive industries that left nothing behind.'
- Canolfan Ddata Menai stated the project would ensure 'continued use' of the surrounding Lôn Las Menai cycleway and footpath and have 'no undue impact' on the Menai Strait and its associated Site of Special Scientific Interest.
Why it matters: A petition signed by over 22,500 people dwarfing the 300-strong street turnout signals deep and pre-existing community opposition that developers cannot airily dismiss, and Liz Saville Roberts' framing of the scheme alongside Wales's history of extractive industries sets a political precedent that could complicate future hyperscale data centre siting across rural Welsh communities.
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