Yass Valley Mayor Jasmin Jones says data centres aren’t appropriate for her area. Photo: Canberra Data Centres.
A southern NSW council has launched a bid to “stand up for ourselves” and rule out a data centre in its backyard.
Yass Valley Council (YVC) unanimously agreed to support a lengthy mayoral minute, proposing a range of policy changes.
Mayor Jasmin Jones used the motion to advocate against a local data centre due to water, land availability and amenity concerns.
She told the meeting that there was “no greenwash on a data centre”.
“You can’t hide the fact that it is energy hungry. … It should be corralled to an area of an industrial estate, not anywhere in our rural community.”
Mayor Jones argued it was key the council investigate policy changes on its own terms, in light of a report from energy company Transgrid.
“They [the Australian Government] can neither protect us, nor can they point this kind of development in our direction.
“It’s actually the state [planning rules] … which is either going to be our friend or foe in this matter.”
In its 2026 Transmission Annual Planning Report, Transgrid outlined its hopes for network capacity, including for data centres.
It states that existing capacity in Sydney is already “largely committed” for about the next decade, with the company looking at sites away from the state’s capital.
Instead, Transgrid predicts Yass and Wagga Wagga could each host between one and two GW of data centre-related infrastructure.
Marulan (near Goulburn) and Canberra are also flagged as host sites for up to 1 GW.
The suggestion was raised in an annual Transgrid report. Image: Transgrid.
In her mayoral minute, Mayor Jones called for YVC to give in-principle support for prioritising future water allocation for residential development.
Any future data centres in the area would also need to show an independent water supply, while “high technology industries” are also proposed to be ruled out as an acceptable use for rural land.
It also states that the council has sought a meeting with Transgrid and the NSW Minister for Energy to ask about why Yass was identified as a possible host site.
During discussion, she added an eleventh part.
It called on YVC’s CEO to discuss with surrounding councils and the ACT Government to develop a “capital region approach” around data centre suitability.
Councillor Fleur Flanery said the council’s approach should put the Yass Valley first.
“We’re a small jurisdiction. We’re in a very important location,” she said.
“We would be naive to think that this motion alone will do a lot towards stopping a data centre should it want to come in, and there’d be many reasons to think about it.”
But she questioned whether nearby jurisdictions would be willing to join a unified front against a future data centre.
“I really feel that we should stand up for ourselves and say, ‘Is this right for us, or isn’t it?’
“I feel that before we go and ask others what they think, we should be reliant on our own resources … They might quite like a data centre in Yass because it means a data centre is not in the ACT.”
Councillor Adrian Carter put forward a foreshadowed motion, calling on the council to push for a moratorium until an appropriate regulatory framework was established.
However, the passage of the mayoral minute meant that motion lapsed.
