Microsoft appears keen to go ahead with plans to build a data center in Slough, England. Plans could be submitted as soon as this autumn, according to The Slough Express.

Recently, a consultation was held to receive feedback from local residents about the data center. In that process, Microsoft said: "Data centres have become integral to our lives, with social media, contactless payments and remote working all reliant on the functionality they provide."

The tech giant added, "The UK needs more new data centres to power the economy of the future."

The consultation covered several topics related to the proposed data center, including on-site parking and if the building of the data center would affect local traffic.

Councillor Chandra Muvvala discussed the impacts of data centeres with the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS). "Not having a data centre is not a problem, but having a data centre is certainly a problem," said Muvvala.

The councillor also noted things Microsoft could do to help the community, such as planting trees or improving local parks.

A petition to pause the data center project has over 600 signatures at the moment. Petitioners want an independent assessment to be completed to determine the impacts of the project.

Controversial data centers

The proposed data center in Slough is not alone in drawing criticism. Microsoft has also faced pushback about its planned data center in Leeds, England.

That project has been controversial since its inception. Over 43,000 people signed a petition to prevent the construction of the data center. Hundreds of protesters appeared at the site earlier this week, according to The Yorkshire Evening Post.

The complaints about the project in Leeds are similar to those from people in Slough. Residents in both areas have expressed concerns about the environmental impact of the data centers and raised flags about potentially high noise levels and other ways the data centers could harm their respective surrounding areas.

Microsoft has already received the go-ahead to build the data center from the Leeds City Council, which voted unanimously to approve the project. But the final decision on the project will come from Chief Planning Officer Martin Elliot.

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