The proposal was considered at Canterbury City Council’s planning committee on 21 July. The council heard Era4 was proposing a “data centre building and compound, engineering operations, fencing, parking and associated works”. During the 21 July meeting, a planning officer said: “The proposal seeks full planning permission for the erection of a data centre building and compound within the Shelford landfill site. “The proposed data centre would be a small-scale AI data centre accessed from Broad Oak Road to the south via a private driveway. Meanwhile, on change.org, a petition titled Prevent the building of a 13,000sq ft AI data centre in Broad Oak, Canterbury has gained 3,857 signatures.