Hundreds gather to oppose £13bn data centre

Hundreds of people gathered in a north Devon town to organise a campaign against plans for a massive date centre and battery energy storage site in nearby countryside.

Xlinks wants to spend up to £13.8bn on building what it calls a data campus on agricultural land near Great Torrington that it says would be among the largest in Europe.

Campaigners against the plans filled Torrington Town Hall to capacity at a public meeting on Monday and hundreds more gathered on the street outside.

Xlinks said the data campus - made up of giant warehouses full of powerful computers used to run digital services - would create between 650 and 1,200 new jobs and be worth up to £3.6bn a year to the economy.

Matt Whittaker helped to organise the meeting and wanted to gather together information and experts to form a plan to oppose the plans.

No planning applications have yet been submitted but Xlinks said it would be putting in two separate applications for the data centre and battery energy storage site.

Whittaker said: "We're in a unique part of the world where we've got the north Devon biosphere - we're proud of that and we're going to decimate a huge part of that.

"If we decimate one part it sets a precedent for others to be built."

Great Torrington is at the centre of the North Devon UNESCO Biosphere - created in 1976 "to protect the environment while making sure local communities thrive".

Paige, 13 and from the area, was at the event with her family and said she was extremely concerned about what impact the project might have on the local countryside.

She said: "It's my home, for the children, for the next generation, and the animals' home.

"It's going to take up a lot of room, it might cause a lot of harm to the environment."

Xlinks says on its website there would be a "dedicated community benefit package" which could include "public open space, a fitness centre, an electric bus depot or a business hub".

The government is currently carrying out an inquiry into how much energy and water data centres are likely to use, and how this could impact the government's net zero goals.

The government designated data centres as critical national infrastructure in 2024 - on an equal footing as water, energy and emergency services systems.

Xlinks is the company behind a stalled bid to bring renewable energy to the UK from Morocco through cables under the sea.

There are hundreds of data centres around the UK but most are near major cities.

Xlinks says on its website the project is "designed to be a long-term anchor for digital infrastructure in the South West".

James Humfrey, CEO at Xlinks, said: "We know a project of this scale will raise questions and we'd expect nothing less from a community that cares about where they live."

A series of public information days is due to be held on 14 July in Weare Giffard, 15 July in Great Torrington, 16 July in Huntshaw and 17 July in Bideford.

Follow BBC Devon on X, Facebook and Instagram. Send your story ideas to spotlight@bbc.co.uk.