A plan to have an area of Northern Devon designated an AI Growth Zone by the government has been revealed following the release of documents by Torridge District Council under Freedom of Information rules. The documents also show that Torridge District Council is being pressed to designate the proposed Great Torrington data centre site as suitable for development in their emerging Local Plan.
Correspondence requested by local activists shows that Xlinks, the developer proposing the giant 1.8GW data centre and battery system close to the town, has applied to the government for AI Growth Zone designation, which would bring advantageous conditions for their project and also encourage more data centres to co-locate in the area.
“Not only does the developer admit that they are looking for this designation for up to 5GW of data centres – two and a half times the size of their own gigantic project – but we now find that the local authority is considering writing the Torrington site into their Local Plan as suitable for industrial development,” said Ken White, of the Devon Data Centre & BESS Action Group, which is working in tandem with Devon CPRE to oppose the plans. He added, “This would be a catastrophe for the area, turning hundreds or even thousands of acres of the beautiful Devon landscape into a giant, noisy industrial estate.”
The government has so far named five areas as AI Growth Zones, in which companies will receive favourable conditions, including cheaper electricity, to build AI data centres. Teesside, Lanarkshire, the former Ford plant at Bridgend in South Wales, the area of North Wales close to the Wylfa Small Nuclear Reactor site, and Culham in Oxfordshire, alongside the Atomic Energy Authority, are the chosen locations. All are former industrial areas in need of regeneration or have strategic co-location advantages.
Devon CPRE chairman Steve Crowther said: “Making part of Northern Devon an AI Growth Zone would be a monumental decision. We already know that such a development would be highly likely to be incompatible with our status as a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. If North Devon and Torridge Councils are tempted to write this into their new Local Plan, it would make it virtually impossible for even the strongest public pressure to prevent the proliferation of huge data centres across the area.
“It would be unthinkable to adopt such a radical change to Devon’s planning environment – swapping UN-rated natural sustainability for AI-driven industrialization – without the consent of the people of North Devon and Torridge.”
We are urging people to add their signature to our growing Register of Objectors at devoncpre.org.uk/data-centre-and-battery-field
Sources of the information revealing what Xlinks and Torridge District Council are planning can be viewed on our website in the members’ area.