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‘People are standing up and fighting back’: the north Devon revolt against a vast AI datacentre

The datacentre revolt spreading across the US has reached the rolling hills of north Devon in an uprising against a planned hyperscale AI data campus in the middle of a globally protected landscape. Perched on an inland cliff, the town of Great Torrington has views that stretch for miles over the landscape of the Unesco biosphere reserve in which it sits, taking in the winding River Torridge and rolling acres of wooded valley and wildflower meadows. Pastoral and peaceful, its history was notably punctured by vio…

By the Truvace desk2 min read1 sourceJournalismTRV-2026-1555· cite & verify
‘People are standing up and fighting back’: the north Devon revolt against a vast AI datacentre

In brief

A British company, Xlinks, plans a 1.5GW AI datacentre with a 1.8GW battery storage system on about 344 hectares of countryside in a Unesco biosphere reserve in north Devon. Local people have organised an action group, used freedom of information requests and held protests and public meetings against the scheme.

The dispute matters because it joins the AI infrastructure build-out to questions of water, protected landscape and how openly large projects are planned. Much is still unresolved: the developer says the water estimate came from a superseded design and that the council process was standard practice, and no planning application had yet been submitted.

Main points

  1. The campus would have five buildings of 50 to 130 feet, and Xlinks says only about a third of the 344 hectares would be developed.
  2. Freedom of information documents showed closed talks between the developer and council officials since March 2025, and an April letter of in-principle support.
  3. One FoI answer put extreme-condition water use at about 2.9bn litres a year, though Xlinks says a new design supersedes it.
  4. A petition by a Devon county councillor calling for a pause on datacentre and battery plans outside AI growth zones has drawn 30,000 signatures.

The problem

Residents and campaigners say a proposed 1.5GW AI datacentre and 1.8GW battery site would industrialise protected farmland, strain scarce water and was advanced in confidence before any public consultation.

The rundown

The site would also host 1,720 containerised battery units at 1.8GW, far larger than Britain's largest operational facility, the 100MW Bramley site in Hampshire. The government estimates the UK needs 23-27GW of battery capacity by 2030, but House of Commons Library research found it lacks data on land use and location policy, which campaigners call a regulatory wild west.

Campaigners cite water consumption, possible Pfas in wastewater runoff, air pollution, noise, fire risk and the industrialisation of open countryside. North Devon was under a hosepipe ban after the hottest summer on record, which sharpens the water concern.

Xlinks says the campus will be self-sufficient in water, recirculating it and topping up mainly from rainwater. Torridge district council said the pre-application process was standard and confidential and not confirmation of any proposal. Its chair threatened to call police over what he called unsubstantiated allegations and abuse at a protest.

Sources

  1. JournalismThe Guardian2026-09-27

The debate