# Stockland scraps data centre plans for Sydney's Cooks River after protests > Stockland scrapped its 25,400-square-metre data centre on Sydney's Cooks River after community protests over water use and pollution risks. The site will become a logistics hub instead, marking the second major data centre proposal abandoned in Sydney in two months. - Type: AI news - Page: https://completeaitraining.com/news/stockland-scraps-data-centre-plans-for-sydneys-cooks-river/ - Published: 2026-11-10 - Updated: 2026-11-09 - Author: Jeroen Erne - Jobs: Finance, Government, Operations, Real estate and construction - Reading time: 2 min Stockland has abandoned plans for a four-storey, 25,400-square-metre data centre on the former Kogarah Golf Course along Sydney's Cooks River, following sustained community protests over water use and pollution risks. The developer confirmed the decision on Saturday, marking the second major data centre proposal scrapped in Sydney within two months after Goodman Group withdrew its $1.2 billion Project Mars in Lane Cove West in September. The Cooks River site will instead be developed into a logistics hub without a data centre, a Stockland spokesperson said. The broader precinct plan still includes warehouses, commercial facilities, restaurants, and a one-kilometre public foreshore link. The river was identified in March as the state's most contaminated coastal waterway in an Australian-first microplastic assessment. #### Community pressure forces retreat Protesters under the group Stop the Cooks River AI Project (SCRAP) held regular demonstrations against the plan, arguing the centre would worsen contamination, strain drinking water supplies, and damage the local environment. Data centres use large volumes of drinking water to cool systems processing AI workloads. Goodman's Project Mars had estimated a requirement of 1.4 million litres per day. Paddy Gibson, a resident and SCRAP organiser, said the group's efforts had paid off. "This is an important victory for people power," Mr Gibson said. "Stockland's back down serves as yet another warning to political leaders at the federal and state level that are rolling out the red carpet for US tech bros. Local communities will not accept their obscene plans to make Australia the second home for power and water guzzling AI data centres." #### Seven other sites still in play Stockland has flagged seven additional locations for data centre development. These include an expansion at Macquarie Park plus a new development there, and two sites in Sydney's west at Wetherill Park and Kemps Creek. In Melbourne, the developer holds land at Cherry Lane, Brooklyn, and the Melbourne Business Park where it intends to build centres. Australia has 117 operational data centres in Sydney alone, according to the Data Centre Atlas. A Climate Council report found about 165 data centres nationally as of August 2026, with at least 225 more proposed - more than double the figure from the previous year. Electricity and clean water consumption by data centres is expected to more than triple by 2030, according to Data Centres Australia. #### Broader pushback and political pressure SCRAP said it would continue action against other planned data centres and has joined a coalition of local groups campaigning against all AI data centres. A rally is planned for December 5 in Parramatta demanding an immediate moratorium on new approvals. Mr Gibson warned that governments risk "the same collapse in political support seen in the US midterm elections, where pro-data centre candidates were severely punished." Goodman Group cited "changes in regulatory environment" and strong community resistance when it withdrew Project Mars. Sydney Water had previously indicated its infrastructure would be limited in supporting that project. The Stockland spokesperson said the amended concept masterplan now focuses on "a world class logistics precinct" suited to the site's proximity to Sydney Airport, Port Botany, and major transport corridors. #### Why this matters for operations and real estate professionals The scrapping of two major data centre projects within months signals rising regulatory and community risk for digital infrastructure development in Sydney. Developers and operators should reassess site selection criteria to account for water infrastructure constraints and local opposition - factors that can kill a project regardless of zoning or investment scale. The shift from data centre to logistics use at Kogarah also highlights how quickly land-use assumptions can change when water and power demands collide with community pressure. For sustainability analysts tracking these dynamics, [AI Sustainability Courses](https://completeaitraining.com/learningpath/ai-for-sustainability-analysts/) offer frameworks for evaluating resource trade-offs in technology infrastructure planning. --- This is the Markdown form of https://completeaitraining.com/news/stockland-scraps-data-centre-plans-for-sydneys-cooks-river/. The whole site is mapped at https://completeaitraining.com/llms.txt.