DURING the April Northam ordinary council meeting, questions were sent in on notice putting the spotlight on the approved Northam data centre development and its potential impacts.

Northam resident Amber Balfour-Cunningham said the Shire of Northam defined light industry as an industry which will not adversely affect the amenity of the locality and will not impose an undue load on any existing or proposed essential services or utilities.

Ms Balfour-Cunningham questioned if this definition was appropriate for a 9m tall data centre stated as being for cryptocurrency mining.

“Data centres are known to need significant amounts of electricity and water to run high intensity computing and cooling systems, and can make persistent low-frequency humming,” she said.

“Why was this 9m tall data centre to be built at Avon West Transport Hub on Yilgarn Ave approved without being advertised for public consultation?”

A Shire of Northam spokesperson said the application met the shire’s criteria to be approved as a warehouse land use which was a permitted use under their planning scheme.

“This development, along with the other future premises in the locality, will be serviced by approved subdivisional roads and reticulated services.”

The spokesperson said that this included power, water, sewerage, communications and more which was normally required in a light industrial estate.

“The staged process for developing the subdivision focuses on the detailed design of services to ensure that they have sufficient capacity to service the proposed development within the subdivision,” they said.

Turning to the matter of transparency, the spokesperson said as the class of land use was ‘P’, it was permitted as of right by the scheme without the need for advertising, providing the use complies with the relevant development standards and the requirements of the scheme.

“In this case the proposal accorded with the built form, scale and activity of a contemporary warehousing development,” they said.

“The use warehouse is defined in Local Planning Scheme No 6 as ‘warehouse/storage’ means premises including indoor or outdoor facilities used for: (a) the storage of goods, equipment, plant or materials; or (b) the display or the sale by wholesale of goods.”

Echo News put questions to the Shire of Northam about how the shire is satisfied that existing or planned infrastructure can accommodate the energy and water demands typically associated with data centres.

The shire spokesperson said energy and water were the responsibility of respective utility providers to consider and that ongoing monitoring of infrastructure load as development progressed was not a consideration in the planning process.

“It is a matter for the developer and relevant utility providers to consider,” they said.

“With regards to Transport infrastructure, we have requested a Traffic Impact Assessment as part of the DA approval.”

Echo News asked the shire if they saw any merit in reviewing consultation thresholds for emerging industries such as data centres, especially with the need for AI data centres on the rise.

“The Shire of Northam is conscious of keeping the community informed and involved on relevant matters, but we also run the risk of over-consulting if we request involvement on every development in emerging industries in the current ever-changing development climate, particularly if these uses are permitted under an existing zoning,” the spokesperson said.

“We are committed to following the lead of the local government sector generally and will continue to adhere to all required consultation requirements on future developments.”

The spokesperson said the shire was committed to preserving the country lifestyle of the Shire of Northam but was aware community sentiment was overwhelmingly to advance economic development in the area.

“This was evidenced in the most recent community survey conducted in December 2025 that attracted nearly 950 responses,” they said.

“Economic development scored very high on the list of community priorities.

“While it is impossible to satisfy all parties all of the time, every development is considered individually based on a careful weighing of the above factors (among others).”

Ms Balfour-Cunningham said questions and concerns about transparency still remained.

“I personally feel it’s not reasonable to classify a data centre as a warehouse, due to likely differences in water and power use, and noise,” she said.

“The shire or developer hasn’t put any statement out about it yet, and the Avon West transport and logistics hub website has expired so is no longer displaying general info about the site.

“Seeing discussion in the community, there is some confusion over what the data centre will be used for.

“Other Northam environmental hub members are frustrated with the lack of transparency and are concerned that despite promises to the contrary, town power and water supplies will be used.”

On May 3, Northam Environmental Hub posted on Facebook about a clearing of Eucalyptus woodland on the road verge of Yilgarn Ave, across the road from where the data centre is being built.

Residents now say they want to know if the clearing was in relation to power supply needs for the data centre.