Plans for a hyperscale data centre in Boorloo / Perth's east have been scrapped before it was due to be considered by the Development Assessment Panel next week after a successful campaign from Aboriginal leaders and community groups.

The facility developed by GreenSquare - owned by a global private investment firm - was to be among the largest in Australia to date, standing 23m tall, with the 120-megawatt operation running continuously via dozens of cooling units.

But resistance from the Hazelmere community - led by Bibbul Ngarma Aboriginal Association and Trillion Trees - due to potential threats to culturally significant river system Mandoon Bilya (Helena River) put the project on ice.

WA Greens planning spokesperson Brad Pettitt MLC said the withdrawal of the "outrageous" proposal sent a warning to the WA government on future infrastructure developments near culturally-significant ecosystems.

"The environmental impacts of this massive data centre on the Mandoon Bilya - a conservation category wetland home to threatened native species like snake neck turtles and black cockatoos - were completely unacceptable," Dr Pettitt said.

"This proposal was incompatible with local and state planning and water management policies, as well as environmental and cultural values.

"It would have sucked up our water, dragged on our energy grid and trashed the Mandoon Bilya just to drive profits for a multi-billion dollar, foreign-owned corporation."

Days before the data centre's demise, Bibbul Ngarma Aboriginal Association was granted $97,000 by the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attraction to restore a section of the Mandoon Bilya under serious pressure from weeds, erosion and fly tipping.

"This grant is a significant investment and will enable weed removal, foreshore revegetation, bank stabilisation, and water quality improvements, all contributing to our broader vision of a Mandoon Bilya Riverpark for the 2029 Perth Bicentenary," the BNAA said on Tuesday.

"Our recent surveys have recorded turtles, gilgies, and threatened Carter's freshwater mussels here, highlighting the river's high conservation value.

"[Mandoon Bilya][ remains a significant freshwater ecosystem, with big potential for restoration and community connection."

The BNAA said its new team of Rangers would "match" the grant by working with community volunteers to restore the river.

"Our restoration is directly next to where GreenSquare wanted to build this giant hyperscale data centre... 40 m from the river, a conservation wetland and on two Aboriginal heritage sites," the association said.

"It posed a direct risk to our work and the long-term restoration of this important urban landscape.

"We are not opposed to data centres, but they need to be located in serviced industrial areas, not on river floodplains, wetlands or Aboriginal heritage sites."

Dr Pettitt said Trillion Trees and Bibbul Ngarma Aboriginal Association had led the months-long fight with the Hazelmere community ever since plans for the large-scale construction were mooted.

"It is through their leadership that the proposal has been withdrawn, less than a week before the Metro Outer DAP was due to consider the application at a public hearing," he said.

He warned the government that inappropriate developments that arise would continue to be fought until WA's "outdated" planning system was fixed.

"Data centres are incredibly energy and water intensive, and we have multi-national companies looking for development sites to take advantage of the promised AI boom," Dr Pettitt said.

"But we know that they are not concerned about the local environment and community impacts.

He called WA's planning system "nonsense" for classifying data centres as warehouse and storage and urged the WA government to create a new planning category for such developments.

"Without a clear government strategy that outlines where we want these data centres to be located - or if we even want them at all - then we will continue to see disastrous proposals in the wrong location that the community does not want," Dr Pettitt said

The proposed site was due to be built in a highly sensitive site next to Helena River and conservation wetland, on two Aboriginal heritage sites, adjacent to a primary school and also residential properties.

The heritage assessment failed to properly consider the broader cultural landscape of the Mandoon Bilya, despite consistent concerns emphasised by Noongar people and strong community opposition, with 1,829 objections lodged with local council the City of Swan.

The fight was broadly supported, with Whadjuk Aboriginal Corporation, the City of Swan, Conservation Council of WA, Urban Bushland Council WA, NatureLink Perth and Save the Black Cockatoos among prominent allies who voiced concerns during the campaign.

Noongar Kaartdijin Aboriginal Corporation was among those organisations and said funding for NBAA to restore a river section of Mandoon Bilya recognised the cultural significance of waterways and broader ecological areas across Noongar Country.

"Too often waterways across our South West - including places like Mandoon Bilya and the waterways through Julimar - are dismissed as 'just creeks'," NKAC said.

"But these are living systems that change across the seasons, carrying and supporting life in many forms.

"They are part of a much broader cultural and ecological landscape - sustaining turtles, gilgies, birds, frogs, fish, wetlands, floodplains, and deep Noongar connection to Country."