"When considering a location for a data center, the priority is a good match with the environment."
Meta, the parent company of Facebook, is abandoning the plan to build a large data center in the Flevopolder. At the end of last year, the city council of Zeewolde still approved the controversial plan. The data center, which was to be the largest in the Netherlands, could still count on support from the city council.
There was a lot of opposition to the plan in national politics. Minister Hugo de Jonge (CDA) previously spoke out against it and set conditions for the sale of the necessary land, which are currently not being met. The Central Government Real Estate Agency did not sell the fields in Flevoland where the tech company wanted to establish itself.
In March, the American tech company decided to put an end to the plans for the time being, due to the lack of social support in the Netherlands. The arrival of Meta was controversial because of, among other things, doubts about sustainability and its social benefits. During the last elections in Zeewolde, the population helped opponents to a majority in the city council.
“We are finalizing our development plans and we are working closely with the municipality and province to efficiently complete this project.”
In its statement, Meta said that “When considering a location for a data center, the priority is a good match with the environment. In the end we decided that building a data center in Zeewolde is not the right investment. We are finalizing our development plans and we are working closely with the municipality and province to efficiently complete this project," said a spokesperson for Meta.
Surrounded by a small lake and deciduous forest, the town of Zeewolde only existed in 1979, when the first residents arrived in a planned community built on land recovered from the sea. It grew from a place without electricity or mains water to a place of about 22.000 inhabitants, many of whom grow onions, sugar beets and potatoes or livestock.
