Locals stand firm in fight to save acres of native Lane Cove bushland from data centre

Around 150 objections have been lodged, with significant concerns raised by the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service.

Huw Bradshaw
October 30, 2025

Dozens of ecologists, conservationists and North Shore locals converged on a data centre building development site next to Lane Cove National Park on Sunday, with the goal of identifying and documenting as much of the flora and fauna as possible.

WATCH: 509 trees to be cleared next to Lane Cove National Park to make way for data centre

The state significant development has drawn the attention of a local environmental group, who claim the proposal would remove an essential buffer zone between urban development and the national park.

⏱️ Why now? In the words of Friends of Lane Cove National Park President, Tony Butteris, “to know what it is we might be losing”.

The proposed data centre site would cover approximately 25,000 square metres. Nearly 150 submissions objecting to the project were submitted to the state planning portal, while NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service has raised concerns about ecological impacts.

The Friends of Lane Cove National Park has been one of the louder voices advocating on behalf of the bushland under threat. It says the area plays a vital role as a buffer zone between the national park and urban development.

🐛 Great Southern Bio Blitz: The crowd in Lane Cove was joined by thousands of citizen scientists across the globe who were participating in the Great Southern Bioblitz (GSB). The GSB describes itself as an “international period of intense biological surveying” for professional and citizen scientists.

Participants in Kenya, Colombia, New Zealand and Australia are using applications such as iNaturalist to document flora and fauna in their respective region.

🌏 Think global, act local: The area adjacent to Lane Cove National Park was selected for the bioblitz in order to show the significant biodiversity and wildlife present in the area set to be cleared.

“This is where a company called ISPT intends to put a data centre, so we today are trying to list as many as the species that exist here as we can,” Butteris told the Lorikeet.

Another on-site participant, Thomas Mesaglio, is a botanist at UNSW.

“Especially in such an urban setting, it’s just nice to know that there still are these remnants remaining, these little microrefugia that are homes to plants and animals that, despite being surrounded by development, are still clinging on,” he told the Lorikeet.

According to ecologist Marie Finocchiaro, microrefugia refer to “small areas maintaining populations of species outside their range margins during environmental extremes”.

➡️What’s next? Approval for the data centre rests with the state government. It has finished collecting submissions and the applicant, ISPT, now has a period to respond to the issues raised.