Plan for controversial Sydney data centre scrapped after push-back

Plans for a data centre which would have been built metres from people's homes in a Sydney suburb have been scrapped following intense push back by campaigners. The data centre was being developed by Goodman Group, Australia's biggest property company, and would have seen it construct a A$1.2bn (£630m; $841m), 90-megawatt facility known as Project Mars in the Lane Cove area. The company confirmed it was withdrawing its application in a letter to the local planning authority. It follows a concerted opposition against the data centre by local residents and campaigners. The dispute captures a wider disagreement in Australia over the role of data centres.