The beautiful UK town that’s been ruined by giant US tech firm

Residents living in the Hertfordshire town of Waltham Cross have claimed the £790m data centre being built by Google is causing house prices to fall and worsening their quality of life.

Construction of the data centre, the company’s first in the UK, began earlier this year and will help power popular services such as Google Maps.

However, locals have said that the noise from the site is preventing them from sleeping and ruining the aesthetics of the local area.

The complaints by locals come just a few months after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak hailed the benefits of the new facility built on ground Google purchased in 2020.

Speaking to the MailOnline about the problems caused by the new data centre, property manager Dionne Brown said the site makes her upset.

Ms Brown, 44, explained: “It used to be amazing here. It was peaceful, you could hear the birds sing and it was lovely.

“Now it’s appalling. It makes me upset. Google can just come in and do what they want and nobody cares about us. There’s no benefits to locals, other than ruining our views and noise all hours of the day.”

Ms Brown, who lives 20 yards from the site, said she believed that her son may have fallen ill because of the building work and that he had a chesty cough for the past four weeks.

When the data centre was announced in January, it was praised for its potential to boost the local economy by bringing massive investment to the region.

Speaking about the data centre, Leader of Broxbourne Council Lewis Cocking said it had shown the area’s “growing importance as a hub for technology and innovation”.

He added that the development was “attracting millions of pounds of investment which will improve the local economy and create thousands of jobs”.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was also excited about Google’s development near Waltham Cross. He said: “The UK is a fantastic place to invest, and Google’s $1billion investment is a testament to the fact that the UK is a centre of excellence in technology and has huge potential for growth.

“Foreign investment creates jobs and grows all regions of our economy and investments like this will help to drive growth in the decade ahead. I will continue to back businesses to invest and innovate here in the UK”

In a statement, a spokesperson for Google said: “Our $1 billion investment in Waltham Cross will help bring crucial computing capacity to the UK, supporting British businesses and people using Google services. We’re committed to being active members of the community and partnering closely with local leaders to meaningfully contribute to their priorities.”