How a green belt village became the centre of the UK’s next big planning row
A planning battle is brewing over 'Europe's largest data centre' in Havering. The council is facing an unlikely coalition made up of residents, environmentalists and the local Reform party In the village of North Ockendon, the most eastern point in Greater London, lies an area of fenland home to badgers, birds and reptiles.
The fields are currently in use as farmland, but may soon become home to what has been described as "Europe's largest data centre" if proposals put forward by Havering Council and developer Digital Reef go ahead. A planning battle is now brewing with the council facing an unlikely coalition made up of residents, environmentalists and the local Reform party[1]. It's a fight that is being played out across the country as Labour's AI push[2] spurs demand for power-hungry data centres on the outskirts of cities.
What are data centres and why do we need them?
A data centre is a building that stores the servers, routers, switches and firewalls needed to process the vast quantities of data we produce each day.
The sector is notoriously secretive, but estimates suggest[3] there are currently more than 400 such sites across the UK. Demand for data centres has increased rapidly since the advent of generative AI models, such as ChatGPT, which take up huge amounts of computational power. The Government is a champion of the sector and has promised to remove planning barriers to building data centres in its bid to boost the UK's AI industry.
Aerial view of a Google data centre being built in Cheshunt, Hertfordshire, in August last year (Photo: Richard Newstead/Getty)
Data centre backlash
But a backlash is forming against the Government's big data plans, both from the local communities who are expected to live near these giant, noisy data centres and from green groups who fear the environmental costs of AI.
In Havering, an opposition group has formed, made up of residents, the local Friends of the Earth group and a representative from Reform UK. The diversity of the group reflects the multitude of ways in which the proposals have offended locals. "We are not opposed to data centres as such, but they are more appropriately placed in an industrial environment.
This is green belt, designed to stop urban spread," said Ian Pirie, coordinator at Havering Friends of the Earth.
Ian Pirie, Danny Leach and Nick Palmer at the site in North Ockendon (Photo: Lucie Heath)
London's green belt is an attractive spot for data centre developers due to its proximity to infrastructure, including transatlantic cables, as well as London's financial centre, which uses vast amounts of data. As a result, the land around the M25 has become the data centre capital of Europe. The loss of green space is a theme that unites those opposed to the Havering project.
If approved, the data centre and associated buildings will be made up of 15 warehouses up to 21 metres tall, covering 99 acres, or 62 football pitches. The developers have also promised to deliver a 279-acre "ecology park" with footpaths and cycling routes, but the scheme's opponents say this does not make up for what is being lost. Pirie said the fens currently support a variety of wildlife, including badgers, deer, birds and reptiles, which he fears will be driven away by construction.
"What many developers refuse to understand is that it takes many, many years for a rich ecosystem to develop, and you can't just replace a site that has rich biodiversity by planting trees. The fens are a rare kind of landscape," Pirie said. Another concern is whether the local area has the infrastructure to support such a large data centre, which uses huge amounts of electricity and water.
It is not known exactly how much electricity or water the Havering site is expected to use, as developers are not required to publish this information. A report from the International Energy Agency found that a large data centre has an annual electricity consumption equivalent to 350,000 to 400,000 electric cars.
The environmental impact of AI
As AI becomes more ingrained in our everyday lives, some experts are sounding the alarm about the impact on the environment. AI uses huge amounts of energy.
New research by the International Energy Agency predicts that electricity demand from data centres worldwide is set to more than double by 2030 to about 945 terawatt-hours (TWh), slightly more than the entire electricity consumption of Japan. AI will be the most significant driver of this increase, with electricity demand from AI-optimised data centres projected to more than quadruple by 2030. In the UK, the CEO of the National Grid has warned data centre power consumption is on track to grow by 500 per cent over the next decade.
The development of thousands of homes has been stalled in west London due to grid capacity issues, caused partly by the demand from data centres. Many also use huge amounts of water for cooling. Last month Thames Water warned that the data centres planned in its region will use the same amount of water as 1.68 million households.
Dr Lo?c Lannelongue, a researcher on environmentally sustainable computing at the University of Cambridge, said that despite being someone who is "optimistic" about the power of AI, he does not believe it is worth the damage to the environment. "The existing environmental impact is so much greater than the expected benefit."
'Residents feel ignored'
The opponents of the data centre in Havering are also concerned about what they see as an erosion of local democracy as the council is considering issuing a Local Development Order (LDO) for the project. An LDO is a planning tool that essentially allows developers to bypass parts of the planning process.
The council argues that new data centre will bring a minimum of 9,000 new jobs to the area and generate an income for the local authority of ?13.5m annually. Havering Council leader, Ray Morgon, said local residents will be given the opportunity to express their views no matter what planning route is taken. "I am happy for there to be an open and robust process of scrutiny for this very exciting project, which will not only have considerable local benefits, but also national ones too in terms of data, energy and food security," he said.
However, Pirie is concerned residents will be given a very small window to respond to the proposals if an LDO is granted. "Local residents do feel ignored," Pirie said. "Local councillors are meant to look after the interests and wellbeing of their residents, but they are saying absolutely nothing in response to emails and enquiries and concerns."
Estimates suggest there are currently more than 400 data centre sites across the UK (Photo: Jason Marz/Getty)
Labour's attack on nimbyism
It is a complaint being echoed by communities across the country as Labour launches its attack on "nimbys" in pursuit of development and growth. While the Government is yet to get involved in the Havering case, it has made it easier for new data centres to be built in England by defining them as Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects, allowing them to circumvent the local planning system.
Housing, Communities and Local Government Secretary Angela Rayner has overturned two council rejections of data centres since coming into the post, in Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire. Both were initially rejected due to building on the green belt. "That is a way of bypassing local scrutiny to some extent.
It's pretty full-throated support from the Government," said Oliver Hayes, head of policy and campaigns at Global Action Plan, which has campaigned against multiple data centres in the UK. While Labour says data centres are an essential part of its plans to grow the UK's economy, the Government risks alienating local communities through its full-throttle support of these megaprojects. Nick Palmer, from Reform UK, said Labour's bulldozing of the green belt is "100 per cent" an opportunity for him to connect with local voters in Havering.
Palmer began supporting local residents in their opposition to the data centre during the 2024 General Election when he was standing as Reform's candidate for Hornchurch and Upminster. "What it needs is more local people to be actually standing up for the people and having their voices heard," he said.
'The whole world is changing'
Danny Leach in the fields next to his home where the data centre will be built (Photo: Lucie Heath)
Danny Leach's home, an old farmhouse, looks directly onto the fields that could soon be dug up to build the data centre. He has lived in the area for 20 years and has seen many changes, as motorways have been built and farmland replaced with solar panels.
More development is expected with the approval of the Lower Thames Crossing, which will connect to the M25 near North Ockendon. "As a country we are farming less and less... it's pretty shit money. The farmer, not being funny, he doesn't know what he's going to get for that," he said, pointing to the field of wheat that could soon be replaced by a data centre.
Leach said he knows we need data centres and doesn't want to be a "hypocrite". "I've got an iPhone. I use data.
My son's on the internet. He does games and that. The whole world is changing," he said.
However, it angers him that the council is considering a Local Development Order and not letting local people have their say. "It's like different rules for one and different rules for another," he said. While Reform has been making headlines for its attacks on net zero policies, Palmer says it is "unfair to say we're not concerned about the environment as a whole".
Other local Reform parties[4] have also begun actively campaigning to protect the green belt, perhaps eyeing an opportunity to win over those the Government is alienating. A Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government spokesperson said: "Reforms to the planning system will make it easier to build key infrastructure like data centres so we can secure our economic future and give businesses the confidence to invest." They added: "Development on the green belt will only be allowed where there is real need."
Digital Reef did not respond to requests for comment.
References
- ^ Reform party (inews.co.uk)
- ^ Labour's AI push (inews.co.uk)
- ^ estimates suggest (www.datacentermap.com)
- ^ local Reform parties (reformpartyguildford.uk)