Will Andy Burnham give local communities a voice in AI roll-out?
Anisah Khan,
Parliamentary Campaigns Manager
Estimated reading time 2 minutes
Andy Burnham must put local communities at the forefront of decision making on the environmentally detrimental rollout of hyperscale data centres.
Burnham promises to be removed from the Westminster bubble, and this must translate into people being given the power and agency to be involved in the decisions that affect them and their local areas, rather than the Westminster machine deciding for them.
The country’s current AI plans have been focussed on the needs of Big Tech for too long with the Government reforming planning to speed data centre building. Data centres have been marked as Critical National Infrastructure and applications are set to be fast-tracked through the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects regime, bypassing local councils.
Instead of continuing to roll out the red carpet for Big Tech, the incoming government must commit to listening to concerns of local people about the impact of data centres. The consequences of prioritising Big Tech over local people can be seen in the US where voters have unseated longstanding politicians after data centres requiring chunks of local resources without generating local benefits as promised.
Britain faces a housing crisis, yet the government has prioritised data centres over homes. In Tower Hamlets, residents and campaigners want redevelopment of the iconic former Truman Brewery site to deliver social housing, but the current Housing Secretary looks set to approve corporate offices and a proposed data centre. Data centres in West London are also causing housebuilding delays due to competition for grid connections, which will lead to regional and national governments missing their housing targets.
Global Action Plan joined community campaigners outside Truman Bewery to protest a proposed data centre
Claims about job creation are frequently overstated. Most employment opportunities arise from temporary construction work. Developers claimed their proposed enormous AI data centre would create 4,000 jobs, yet after interrogation the number was found to be just 400.
Data centre demand is rapidly outpacing renewable energy capacity at a time when Britain is already struggling to electrify transport and heating. The UK is already the world’s second-largest nation for data centres (behind the USA) and has at least 100 proposed hyperscale data centres in planning and 140 requesting grid connections. Collectively these 140 facilities would require more new power than the peak winter demand of the entire UK.
Published emissions estimates from just 10 of the 100+ planned UK data centres will wipe out this year’s CO2 savings from the switch to electric vehicles.
The Government will not achieve clean power 2030 if it continues along this trajectory, and as developers increasingly pursue giant on-site gas plants for power generation, net-zero writ large is in peril.
Additionally, data centres need diesel back-up generators for if the grid goes down. These generators must be routinely tested. The testing regime for backup generators in a proposed Bedfordshire data centre will produce c.2,000 tonnes of CO2 annually and significant local air pollution impacts.
90% of the energy that data centres consume leaves as heat. As the UK swelters under record breaking heatwaves, Slough – the country’s data centre hotspot – has seen data centres push up temperatures by as much as 9C.
The cheapest and most widely adopted way of cooling the hot air coming off packed servers is through heat exchangers filled with mains water. Some is recycled but most is evaporated. Most UK data centre development is planned where water supply is stressed, particularly the southeast. Many water companies claim that they don’t know how much water they supply data centres, and developers do not disclose. This requires urgent investigation.
At a time where households are struggling with the cost of living and energy prices remain a top issue for voters across the country, the unchecked rollout of an energy intensive data centre seems poorly thought through. Data centres are impacting household bills already. In Ireland data centres have “drained” €715m (£620m) from the Irish economy and increased household bills by a cumulative average of €360 between 2015 and 2023.
The Burnham government must ask ‘who will pay for the rollout of data centres and rise of AI?’, ‘how can this rollout serve society?’, ‘who is benefitting from this AI boom?’. Voters from across the political spectrum agree that benefits of this AI boom will be felt by wealthy corporations rather than them.
City leaders across the globe are considering the impacts of data centre rollout, New York state have passed a 1-year moratorium, in London, the London Plan includes a chapter on data centres outlining the factors industry must consider, yet national governments are falling behind.
The government’s net zero targets are non-negotiable, but which sectors are first in the decarbonising queue is a political choice. Renewable energy should support decarbonising homes, transport and local infrastructure before fuelling large-scale AI infrastructure whose social utility is unproven at best. Housing delivery and lower energy bills for households and local businesses must take priority over the interests of Big Tech investors.
It’s vital that people affected by the rollout of hyperscale data centres are given all of the facts and are involved in decision processes.
Given the huge unanswered questions about how AI roll out is consistent with ambitious climate action and addressing the cost of living, Government must announce a moratorium on new hyperscale data centres. This would give us the space to create a framework that sets out how many data centres we need, what for, the acceptable limit of environmental harm they cause, and how this harm is mitigated. Industry must report on its power and water usage so all of us – governments and communities – can assess their environmental impacts and weigh it against any benefits they bring.
Voters don’t want Big Tech’s data centres on their doorsteps. Local concerns and the environment must be prioritised over Silicon Valley. Add your voice to the petition now to stop dirty data centres.