Global Infrastructure UK Limited, a Google data centre operations company, wants to redevelop the disused Arena Essex Raceway near Purfleet.
It has submitted a planning application to Thurrock Council, which reveals ambitions to demolish the existing structures on the site and replace them with four data centre buildings.
But Buglife, a wildlife charity dedicated to the conservation of invertebrates, has urged Google not to build on the land, which has local wildlife site status.
The charity said: “The Arena Essex Raceway in Thurrock, separated from the bustling Lakeside Retail Park by the traffic-filled A13, might not be most people’s idea of a wildlife haven.
“But where once stock cars and speedway bikes lined up to cross the finish line first, the dust has settled, and nature is thriving.
“It is now home to a unique mosaic of flowery grasslands, sandy bare ground, scrub and young woodland that have thrived on its brownfield landscape.”
Local wildlife sites are not protected by law, and there are no public rights of way through Arena Essex Raceway.
The racing track closed in 2018 after 40 years of operation.
Jamie Robins, Buglife programmes manager, said: “This is simply the wrong place for Google to think of building a data centre.
“To live up to its sustainability ambitions, it shouldn’t even consider bulldozing a local wildlife site.
“Against the background of a nature emergency, with our insects in steep decline, we have to protect our best remaining habitats – and for powerful companies to make better decisions.”
Google did not respond to a request for comment.
But planning documents submitted by Global Infrastructure UK Limited claim that the clearing of vegetation will be “limited to construction areas”, with “key ecological features” retained.
However, the company’s own ecology report found that the development would result in a “net loss” of open mosaic habitat at the site.
Global Infrastructure UK Limited claims that “no viable or available alternative sites exist” that could deliver the project “without equivalent or greater ecological impacts”.
It adds that any harm is outweighed by the fact the new data centre represents a “long-term, nationally significant investment in Thurrock’s digital infrastructure”.
The planning application is currently under consideration by Thurrock Council.
