For the time being, the government must not sell land to Facebook’s parent company Meta for a mega data center in Zeewolde. A proposal to that effect has been adopted in the Senate.
Last week the city council in Zeewolde gave permission before the arrival of the data center, but that is not the end of it. Part of the land is owned by the Central Government Real Estate Agency and that has set preconditions, including: about sustainability.
The proposal in the Senate of the Party for the Animals adds another condition. The sale should be suspended “until a new cabinet vision for spatial planning and data centers is ready”. A motion to the same effect was rejected in the House of Representatives last week before the vote in Zeewolde.
Recently, the call for a national strategy getting louder in The Hague. A number of parties believe that permission for the arrival of data centers should not be left to municipalities.
The new coalition agreement also states that the incoming cabinet intends to tighten up national management and criteria. The new coalition believes that mega data centers “make a disproportionate claim on the available sustainable energy in relation to the social and/or economic added value”.
State Secretary Knops of the Interior says he will study the motion from the Senate.
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