Warning there is a ‘limit’ to the number of data centres Northumberland can house amid overdevelopment concern

By James Robinson and Daniel Holland

A North East council leader has cautioned against the “overdevelopment” of AI data centres, amid mounting concerns over plans for three new sites, writes Local Democracy Reporters, James Robinson and Daniel Holland.

There has been a growing national backlash against the proliferation of data centres, due to complaints over the land, water, and energy needed to accommodate them – as well as the wider warnings over artificial intelligence’s threat to humanity in recent days.

Alongside a £10 billion facility at Cambois in Northumberland being built by US firm QTS, two other data centre applications are also currently under consideration by the county council.

If both are approved, Northumberland could see three of the large-scale developments built within a few square miles in the south east of the county. 

Local residents have held demonstrations against the plans while Blyth and Ashington MP Ian Lavery called for a “moratorium” on further construction in Parliament.

Speaking at a meeting of the council on Wednesday, Conservative leader Glen Sanderson said the council wanted to see economic investment – but that there was a limit to what would be accepted. 

Coun Sanderson also compared the situation to applications for a huge number of windfarms in the county over a decade ago.

He said: “We very much welcome the £10 billion investment in Cambois which will benefit all the county through the £110 million growth fund. However, there is a limit to how many data centres could be put in Northumberland.

“We have had some representations and they will be judged carefully. There are two more at the minute in the early stages that we will be looking at very carefully.

“We went through a period of time 10 years ago where there was a plethora of wind turbine applications. We had to get to a stage with planning that talked about overdevelopment and overcapacity which did reduce the amount of successful applications.

“I think it is fair to say that most members here are keen not to see overdevelopment of datacentres. It’s not that we can stop developers putting in applications, but I’m keen to know what members think about that large-scale development, which we want to see – but not at any cost.”

Wansbeck Regeneration has submitted plans for a £3.8 billion data centre scheme at West Sleekburn, while another application at Factory Road in Cambois is at an earlier stage. 

The QTS site is already slated to be one of the largest data centre sites in Western Europe, with  10 data centre buildings spanning over 133 acres and a total floor space of up to 540,000 square metres.

Meanwhile, mayor Kim McGuinness and the region’s council leaders are poised to sign off multi-million pound plans to boost the North East’s AI sector next week.

The North East was designated as an AI Growth Zone by the Government last year – with a pledge of 5,000 new jobs and £30 billion of investment.

Ms McGuinness and her cabinet will be asked on Tuesday to agree a £5 million public investment in those plans, to underwrite a promised Government grant which has not yet been delivered.

That funding, which the mayoral authority plans to reclaim from the Government retrospectively, will be used to deliver projects including entry-level AI skills training for primary school pupils.

The authority also plans to develop a new data centre strategy to draw up a clear criteria for endorsing future developments and “recognising where they fail to deliver for our region”.

A report to the mayor and cabinet states: “Investment in Data Centres in the region will create construction jobs and once up and running, ongoing employment and Business Rates revenues. However, getting the appropriate number of strategically important centres is required as these are energy and sometimes water intense infrastructure projects that take up prime land that could also be used for other potentially more labour intensive industries. 

“As such, it is imperative that we take a strategic approach to managing the investment pipeline in the region, learning the lessons from the AI Growth Zone programme, to ensure that we are explicitly thinking about the wider benefits, including pulling through North East businesses in the supply chain, social benefits or securing access to AI computing power for citizens and companies.”