Anglesey to consider 2.5m sq ft data centre proposals
Stena Line-owned property company Anglesey Land Holdings’ intends to repurpose a derelict aluminium smelting site into an R&D, office, and data centre facility, known as Prosperity Parc.
Plans to transform the 217-acre Holyhead site were first revealed in early December last year, now Anglesey County Council will consider the application, which could add more than 1,100 jobs to Holyhead.
A statement from consultant Oxalis Planning indicates strong market interest in the site from high-value sectors of the economy due to its access to strategic power and telecommunications infrastructure.
Proposals for the £1bn data centre investment include 108,000 sq ft of offices, 54,000 sq ft of R&D space, and a Battery Energy Storage System, with a target capacity of 349MW.
At full employment, Prosperity Parc could provide an economic output of £408m a year, according to an economic impact assessment complied by Cadnant Planning and Glic.
Access to the former Penrhos Aluminium Works site, which fully closed in 2013, would be from London Road in Holyhead. The site lies just off the A55, which provides direct road links to the mainland.
After the smelting operation ceased, the land was developed and bought by Orthios to run an eco-park on the site. This, however, closed in 2022 and resulted in a loss of 140 jobs.
The site is owned by Stena Line, which has owned and operated Holyhead Port for 30 years.
A public consultation on the data centre plans ran up until 10 January 2025.
There is a national drive to build more data centres, which were granted critical national infrastructure status by the Labour government.
Recently, plans for a £250m data centre were approved by Salford City Council while Blackpool’s 50-acre Silicon Sands is one of the largest data centre projects in the North West.
In March last year, Stockport Council also approved the construction of Kenwood Point Data Centre, a £350m, 280,000 sq ft project from Kao Data.
The project team for the Angelsey project includes masterplanner FPCR Environment & Design, TrueLine Midlands, Alan Wood & Partners, Wessex Archaeology, Vanguardia (a Buro Happold Company), Arbtech, ADC Infrastructure, MBA Consulting Engineers, and DFL.
To view the outline application, use the planning reference number OP/2025/2 in Anglesey Council’s planning portal.
Of the more than 1100 jobs suggested only 235 (based on the EIA report) are attributed to the 2.5m sq ft data centre so potentially over 10,000 sq ft of built space per employee. The island has lost a lot of employers and needs economic development, my question would be is this the right proposal or just a land play given the current need for such infrastructure and not really a sizeable employment generator.
By William Kyffins