A data center proposed for a 148-acre site in Cheshire, UK, is already causing concern among residents in the area.

Renewable energy firm Innova has opened consultation on its plans for the project, which will be called the Spodegreen Data Center, on land outside the village of Little Bollington.

The plot, adjacent to Lymm Road and the M56 motorway, is currently used for farming and is part of the 5,500-acre Tatton Estate.

The development would also feature a solar farm, though Innova said the data center will draw power from the main grid. The proposed capacity of the facility has not been disclosed, but it would feature a closed-loop system to keep water use to a minimum.

A public consultation event was held this week, which drew in more than 100 residents.

In quotes reported by the BBC, resident Mike Reed described the data center as a “massive great industrial monster.”

Reed said: “People are very upset at this proposal. It’s green belt land at the edge of Manchester’s conurbation.

“You can’t start creeping into that, or you destroy the whole of the green belt throughout Cheshire.”

Innova said the project would create 350 jobs, though it is not clear if these are construction-related or permanent roles.

The company operates solar farms and energy storage schemes across the north west of England and Wales. In 2025, it submitted plans to the National Grid seeking power connections for a network of ten data centers with a combined capacity of 4.4GW, though the Cheshire site did not feature as part of this.

It is working with JLL on the development, and a planning application for the data center is likely to be submitted later this year or early in 2027.

Cheshire is not a major data center hub, though the nearby city of Manchester has a growing digital infrastructure sector.