‘Never seen this level of objection’: Scotland pushes back against datacentre boom
(www.theguardian.com)
By being ridiculous they can now be seen to be "reasonable" and "compromise" by proposing a slightly smaller footprint.
A footprint that if they'd proposed originally would still likely have garnered objections but using this tactic could result in objection depleting because the less radically minded will think a fair compromise has been reached.
They're evil, but they're not daft.