Holbæk Municipality will stop all planning for a hyperscale data center after nearly 100 citizens protested at the Old Town Hall on Wednesday evening, DR reported. The Social Democrats, who hold over half the seats in the municipal council, said they will work to completely stop the project.
Eva Anker Lund (S), chair of the Plan and Business Committee, said: "We recommend that we stop all planning of a data center in Holbæk Municipality. The planned hyperscale data center between the bypass road and Holbæk Sportsby would have multiplied Holbæk Municipality's electricity consumption several times over. Politicians in Køge, Odsherred, Varde and Hørsholm have likewise taken citizens' protests against data centers seriously.
The citizen proposal gathered more than the 500 required signatures in just one week and now has more than 1,100. "It's clear to us how much opposition there is," Anker Lund said. She said data centers should be decided nationally by Minister for Business and Competition Martin Lidegaard (RV) and that all planning should stop until the national strategy is in place.
Emil Brix from Knabstrup, who is behind the proposal and a member of the citizens' group Ét Grønt Holbæk, said: "There was broad support for our citizen proposal, and there was actually such broad support that you didn't even need to vote on it. Benitta Wöhlk from Butterup said she has nothing against a data center but that it must be planned properly. "You don't build a motorway before it's needed, and we shouldn't build this data center before it's needed," she said.
The proposal goes to the Plan and Business Committee next week, where the Social Democrats will recommend dropping the project. A final decision is set for the municipal council meeting on 18 November.
Earlier coverage
- Danish Datacenter Projects Halted as Protests Grow (28 Oct 2026)
- Danes Revolt Against Microsoft Data Centre Plans (28 Oct 2026)