The Keswick data centre plan is in: 19.55m high, 257m long, with 72 rooftop chillers and 36 pairs of diesel generators. Comments to South Norfolk by 28 October.
The full planning application for the data centre on Norwich’s southern edge is now with South Norfolk Council, and the formal comment period on the register ends on 28 October. Norwich Apex Ltd wants to build a two-storey data centre on about 13 hectares of land west of Ipswich Road (A140) at Keswick, between the A140 and the B1113.
The application is reference 2026/2957. It was received and validated on 2 October and is listed as pending consideration. The site is in Keswick and Intwood parish, in South Norfolk, so the decision rests with South Norfolk Council rather than Norwich City Council.
Opposition has been building since the scheme was first floated in the summer. A Change.org petition against it had 16,657 signatures on Tuesday morning. Now the detail is on the public file, and much of it answers questions that residents have been asking for months.
What the application includes
The design and access statement and the applicant’s planning statement describe:
- one main building, 257.38m long and 50.20m wide, over two floors
- twelve data halls, six on each floor
- a rooftop cooling gantry screened by louvres, reaching 19.55m from the ground
- a two-storey office block at the north end, 14.65m high
- 72 chiller units on the roof and 36 pairs of emergency diesel generators
- a new 132kV substation on the northern part of the site
The application form gives 23,453 square metres of data centre floorspace and 1,709 square metres of offices.
The campaign against the scheme has described the building as 20 metres high. The application’s own figure for the top of the rooftop louvres is 19.55m. The applicant says the building would be set partly into the slope, which it says reduces how tall it looks from the countryside.
Power, noise and water
The energy statement puts the computing load at about 90 MVA, with a total peak electrical demand of 150 MVA once cooling and other plant are included. Campaigners and Clive Lewis MP have described it as a 150MW scheme. The power would come through two 132kV connections from the Norwich Main grid substation near Dunston Hall. The statement says the scheme would not draw on Keswick village’s local electricity network.
The applicant’s own acoustic assessment is blunt. It says: “Without mitigation the current design has the potential to generate very high levels of noise to the surrounding area.” The rooftop chillers are the main source.
Its proposed answer is to enclose groups of chillers in acoustic housings. It also proposes:
- routine generator testing on weekday daytimes only
- no more than eight generators tested at once
- a design limit, agreed with the council’s environmental officer, that regular plant noise should not exceed existing background levels
The detailed noise kit would be settled by planning condition before installation, the applicant says. Night-time background levels measured around the site and in Keswick village ranged from 29dB to 36dB.
On water, the scheme uses closed-loop air-cooled chillers rather than evaporative cooling. The planning statement says that once the system is filled, no further water is needed for cooling.
What the applicant’s reports say about the view
The site is about 320m south of Marston Marshes Local Nature Reserve. The Grade II listed Church of All Saints at Keswick is about 380m to the west.
The applicant’s landscape and visual assessment, summarised in the planning statement, does not say the building would disappear. It finds that “major-moderate and moderate adverse effects remain at Year 15” for several viewpoints, even after the planned woodland has grown. The worst affected, it says, are:
- the Keswick bridleway BR7, just west of the B1113
- Marston Marshes Local Nature Reserve
- the landscape immediately around the site
The heritage statement identifies “a very low level of harm” to the setting of the church.
Why the developer says it should be approved
The land is not a green field in planning terms. It is allocated for employment use in the Greater Norwich Local Plan (policy S.KE.1). A business park of up to 28,329 square metres was granted outline permission in May 2018 (2017/2794), with reserved matters approved in February 2023. The planning statement says earthworks for that scheme have started, and that the data centre would replace it.
The applicant’s main arguments are:
- 100 to 150 permanent jobs, including engineers, technicians and security staff
- far less traffic than the business park already approved
- a new link road between the A140 and B1113, already part of the approved scheme
The planning statement forecasts about 180 two-way vehicle movements on a typical weekday. The approved business park was forecast to generate about 1,622. These are the applicant’s figures. No response from the highway authority is on the file yet.
The parish council has asked for more time
Keswick and Intwood Parish Council wrote to the planners on 8 October asking to extend its deadline. The council agreed on 9 October that the parish council can respond by 27 November.
In its letter the parish clerk said:
- residents and people “from across the Norwich area” had written in with “considerable concerns”
- the parish council would hold an extraordinary meeting within two weeks to consider hiring an independent planning consultant
- its formal response would follow its scheduled meeting on 25 November
- parishioners had raised concerns about the developer’s pre-consultation event at Keswick Reading Room, including the amount of information on offer
What the MPs have said
The site sits on the edge of Norwich South. Its MP, Clive Lewis, set out his position on his own website in July. He said constituents had written “in numbers” about noise and light, water, energy demand and the loss of habitat in the Yare Valley. He called for the full application to be “scrutinised extensively” once it was submitted.
He set out four tests:
- public, audited reporting of water and energy use
- genuine consideration of grounds for refusal
- transparency about who will operate, use and fund the site
- a clear answer on what local people get back in jobs, skills or infrastructure
The site itself is in the South Norfolk constituency. We could not find a published statement on the scheme from its MP, Ben Goldsborough.
What it means for you
If you live in Keswick, Eaton, Cringleford, Lakenham or near Marston Marshes, this is the point at which your view counts. Planning decisions turn on material considerations: noise, visual impact, ecology, heritage, traffic and policy. A comment that addresses those carries more weight than one that only says no.
- Read the documents: all 120 are on the council’s planning register under 2026/2957. The acoustic assessment, the landscape and visual impact assessment and the planning statement are the ones most residents will want.
- Comment: the council asks for comments by email to planning@southnorfolkandbroadland.gov.uk, quoting 2026/2957, and not to individual officers. Its notice on the application says officers will not enter into individual correspondence because of the volume.
- Dates on the register: neighbour consultation closes on 28 October. The site notice, posted on 12 October, runs to 2 November. A press notice is due on 15 October and runs to 5 November.
- The decision: the council’s internal target date is 1 January 2027. The register does not yet say whether councillors or officers will decide it.
For other schemes around the city, see our Norwich planning news page.
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