A plan to convert a former chemical plant into an AI data center in North Wales, UK, has been rejected by the local council.

Anglesey County Council rejected the planning application on the site of the former Octel factory at Amlwch Port in Anglesey, North Wales, local news publication the North Wales Chronicle reports.

Carbon3.ai submitted the planning application in January this year, requesting a change of use for the site to enable data center construction. The company said it would adapt and reuse existing buildings and deliver an AI data center.

The application was said to fit in with the UK’s designation of Wales as an AI Growth Zone, an initiative that identifies areas where data center developments will be encouraged, offering priority access to power and favorable business rates.

The Octel site has been empty since 2004, after operating for more than 50 years, producing bromine from seawater.

This isn’t the first data center proposal this year to be struck down by a local council. In February, Edinburgh Council’s planning committee rejected a proposal to build a data center at the former site of the Royal Bank of Scotland headquarters.

Other reports have emerged that data center planning in the UK is being stymied by inadequate community engagement.

According to British engineering consultancy firm Hoare Lea, the average time to secure planning consent for a data center was 490 days. Of 33 applications studied in the report, nine were rejected.