The government is not yet going to sell the land on which a much-discussed data center for Meta would be located to the municipality of Zeewolde. The municipality does not yet meet the set conditions. Minister Hugo de Jonge (Spatial Planning) said this on Friday.
Meta does not yet meet the conditions set for the sale. “Then the message to Zeewolde is also: at the moment the land is not yet sold,” says Minister De Jonge.
The minister will discuss this with the municipality of Zeewolde. “We also know that the political situation in Zeewolde has of course changed,” he emphasizes.
Parties opposing the arrival of the data center won a major victory in the municipal elections in March. It is not yet clear whether the data center has officially been shut down.
Solar panels in the design
Research organization TNO has critically examined the conditions. Some of the conditions are not met, according to De Jonge. “Then it is about the way in which the solar panels are applied in the design; it is about requirements for sustainability and energy.”
In a response, the municipality of Zeewolde says it has taken note of the letter about it from De Jonge and an associated draft report from the Central Government Real Estate Agency. “The college is now going to study the content first and will come up with a response at a later time.”
In March, Meta announced that it had put its plans for the data center on hold. The Zeewolde city council voted in December 2021 for the arrival of the data halls, but the opponents were subsequently the big winners of the municipal elections earlier this year. They now have a large majority in the council.
Improvement: An earlier version of this article stated in the introduction that the Dutch government is not yet going to sell the land in Zeewolde to Meta. This was wrong. The government will not sell the land to the municipality of Zeewolde. That is why the article has been amended.