THURROCK Council has released details of a planning application for a huge data centre development on the former Arena Essex motorsport and speedway site and adjacent fishing lake site off the Arterial Road in West Thurrock.

The application by Global Infrastructure UK is for the comprehensive redevelopment of the site including demolition of existing buildings and structures to deliver a data centre campus including four buildings and a separate office building of up to 4,000 sqm.

Around those structures will be the placement of ancillary equipment and associated works including security fencing, entrance and service yards, external plant, utility infrastructure (including sub-stations and emergency back-up power generators), energy storage (fuel tanks and/or battery storage), electric vehicle charging stations, internal road networks, car parking for up to 450 vehicles.

The application also includes plans for hard and soft landscaping, and habitat creation and open space enhancements including the provision of a mountain bike track, pedestrian and cycle linkages to the Mar Dyke Local Wildlife Site and Lakeside, as well as associated access and public realm works.

Full details of the applicants' plans can be found in the detailed planning statement which can be read via this link.

Arena Essex closed in 2018 after its owners, London Strategic Land Partners Limited, closed the site in advance of submitting plans for up to 2,500 new hopes. Ultimately that scheme was withdrawn and the company sold on the land in July 2023 for £47 million.

During the past seven years speedway and motorsport fans had been hopeful that a new development on the site might see them retain a home for their sports.

News of the withdrawal of the homes plan reinvigorated those hopes and in October 2023 Thurrock Hammers Director Mark Sexton commented: "The change of ownership of Arena Essex signifies a new start and we have already contacted a representative of the new owner of the site with the aim of preserving Speedway by using current planning regulations and policies.

"Supporters will remember that we secured the backing of Thurrock Council at a meeting of its Full Cabinet in January 2023 which should be key in the Local Plan process and any application for planning permission on the Arena Essex site.

"Our land use plans are well developed and while our focus is to return Thurrock's most popular spectator sport to the borough, we are also looking to add much needed community value as part of our plans to weave Speedway into the fabric of the community."

However, the release of the detailed plans appears to dash those hopes.

The Arena

And it is likely that Hammers supporters may feel aggrieved with Thurrock Council for not sharing information at a recent meeting.

On Tuesday, 17 June Mr Sexton and Hammers representatives attended a 'developer forum' organised by Thurrock Council's Local Plan management team.

The aim of the meeting was to provide land promoters, property developers, agents and community stakeholders with information about the Local Plan process and the progress being made by the Council on its Local Plan, which is designed to set out Thurrock's land use framework for the next 20 years.

In the wake of the meeting Mr Sexton said: "This meeting gave us an opportunity to discuss our case with a number of council officers.

"Naturally, Hammers fans and speedway supporters alike will be specifically interested in what's happening at the Arena Essex Raceway and, during discussions after the meeting, I was told that the current owner of the Raceway (Global Infrastructure UK Limited) is on the verge of submitting a planning application for the development of the Raceway site.

"This news clearly moves things along and when it's made we will fully analyse the planning application to ensure that national and local policies for the protection of sporting facilities are applied.

"Our land use case has always been made based on planning policies and frameworks and will continue to do so. We will provide more information as it becomes available."

The council had full notice of all the applicants' plans for the site, with 128 documents submitted in May and by Tuesday, 3 June. The planning application was 'validated' by the council on Wednesday, 4 June but the council appears to have sat on the documents and not published them until they appeared on its planning portal today (Monday 1, July). 

In May, Claire Demmel - Executive Director for Place, talked about 'exciting plans' for the arena site. 

She said: "This month we've had an exciting application that has just been submitted by Global Infrastructure UK Ltd at the Arena Essex Site, near Lakeside."