Minister De Jonge wants to prevent the arrival of data center to Zeewolde

Minister of Spatial Planning Hugo de Jonge (CDA) wants to prevent the arrival of the mega data center of Meta, the parent company of Facebook, to Zeewolde. A spokesperson for the Ministry of the Interior confirmed this on Saturday morning NRCafter reporting from of US.

Although the city council of Zeewolde in Flevoland approved the zoning change that makes the arrival of the data center possible in December, it cannot yet be built. Part of the land on which Meta wants to build the center belongs to the government. And for the sale of that plot of land, the cabinet set ‘preconditions’ in December, which have to do with sustainability.

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De Jonge hopes that the arrival of the center can be stopped in this way. “It is our land and we have put conditions on its sale. It is highly questionable whether Zeewolde will be able to meet this requirement,” De Jonge told NOS on Friday. “I think the Netherlands is too small for those very large data centers.”

The construction of a data center is controversial, because it will consume a lot of power. The permission of the municipal council for zoning plan changes was met with a lot of criticism: from The Hague, but also from demonstrators gathered in front of the town hall of the place. In the municipal elections this week, the parties that are against the arrival of the center became the largest: local party Leefbaar Zeewolde and the ChristenUnie.

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