'Do we really need this many?' Burnham urged to halt rapid rollout of water-guzzling AI data centres - as drought declared across half of England
The number of data centres in the UK is forecast to rise by a fifth over the next few years
The government has been urged to pause the rapid rollout of AI data centres, as concerns mount over their energy and water usage amid claims local communities are being 'sidelined'.
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The UK is seeing a surge in the number of AI data centres - power-hungry warehouses storing the servers, storage systems and networks that power AI systems such as ChatGPT.
They are much larger than older internet data centres and require huge amounts of fresh water, required to stop servers from overheating, and electricity to run.
There are thought to be around 500 data centres across the UK, with that number expected to increase by a fifth over the next five years, largely concentrated in London and the south east.
“Data centres aren’t new,” says Anisah Khan, a parliamentary campaigner at the environmental charity Global Action Plan.
But what has changed, she explains, is the rollout of energy-hungry "hyperscale" data centres, fuelled by an explosion in AI demand.
Just one of these facilities can devour 1.5 million litres of water a day, enough to supply a town of 10,000 people, according to Global Action Plan.
It comes as a drought was declared in half of England, including East Anglia, Hertfordshire and the whole of London, following follows record low levels of rainfall and soaring temperatures.
Part of the issue with data centres, Anisah says, is that there is no obligation for developers to be transparent, meaning it's often "not clear what they are actually being used for".
When 10 million people were placed under a Thames Water hosepipe ban last week, water and electricity were still being diverted to data centres, which are categorised as critical national infrastructure.
But while some of these "might be NHS data centres being used for the AI that to transcribe patient notes or analyse data, others could be making deepfakes and speaking to children online".
"And there's just know way of knowing."
The other concern is the huge amount of electricity required to keep data centres running. London's existing 99 AI data centres require about 760MW at peak demand - enough energy to power 750,000 homes according to a report commissioned by London City Hall.
The Greater London Authority recently admitted that the amount of energy requested by data centres in the grid connection queue is 10x the current grid capacity.
Last year, it was revealed that several major housing projects in Ealing, Hillingdon and Hounslow had to be put on hold because of the pressure placed on the electricity grid by the huge number of AI data centres built in west London.
Estella O'Brien, 67, says that eleven data centres have been built within a 1km radius by her estate in North Acton in the west London borough of Ealing.
Soon, demolition is set to commence on a 4.7 acre empty factory to make way for a twelfth facility, run by Kao Data, which once finished will stand just five metres from Estella's front door.
"Every single member of the estate is against it," she says. "Everyone I've spoken to has said the same thing: they just look at you in disbelief and say: 'You mean they're going to put it there? We can't go through this again.'"
She's also concerned about the noise, adding that neighbours on the other side of her 250-home estate are often woken up during summer nights by the ever-present "whirring hum" from a nearby data centre completed two years ago.
"A lot of people here are also worried about where the water is going to come from," she adds. "Thames Water actually objected, saying there isn’t the capacity to supply another data centre."
She thinks that the government "needs to stop and say: ‘What exactly do we need?’ Because there’s a real sense this is speculative. I don't think they should be able to build this many, particularly where so many people live, without being completely clear about whether they are needed."
In Southall, local resident Helder Almeida says he is worried about the environmental and health effects of a data centre planned on the site of an old food factory.
Ealing Council approved plans for the 52,000 sqm Cyrus One data centre on Thursday, 23 June - which is less than two miles away from another facility which was given the green-light last November.
"People are very concerned about the disruption during construction, and once it's built, the air pollution. They are concerned about noise, potentially the impact on energy bills."
Helder, 40, adds he doesn't think the council has paid "sufficient attention" to the impact the data centre is likely to have on air pollution.
He adds he is "most concerned" about the impact of waste heat produced by computer servers.
Emerging research has suggested that data centres can create a "heat island" effect, raising temperatures by an average of 2C and up to 9C.
They are also one of the fastest growing sources globally of greenhouse gas emissions. This is partly because some data centres, such as the Quest Park site in Bedfordshire, are building on-site gas generation due to the lack of grid capacity.
"Southall is one of the most deprived areas in Ealing and it will certainly feel the effects of heat, of air pollution, of overdevelopment. It’s becoming a sort of environmental and social justice case study."
It comes as residents in east London, have fought back against plans for a huge data centre in the hipster enclave of Brick Lane. The planning application was 'called in' by the government following its initial rejection by the local authority, which had argued it would deepen the local housing crisis by taking up space and electricity needed for new homes.
Anisah accused the Government of prioritising schemes that will "reap financial benefit" over "local needs and local demands".
"It's really essential that, if Andy Burnham is talking about the importance of local communities and bringing bills down and providing housing for people that so desperately need it, his government actually listens to them and involves them in the decision-making process."
A spokesperson for Ealing Council said: “Data centre proposals must meet strict planning requirements and are assessed against a range of planning considerations, including sustainability, infrastructure capacity, environmental impacts and effects on local communities."
They added that developers "must demonstrate" that the required electricity capacity can be secured "without drawing on the existing local electricity supply."
“Where developments are approved, they must comply with planning conditions and legal obligations designed to manage impacts and secure wider community benefits."
Adam Nethersole, Senior Vice President at Kao Data, said that "much of the discussion surrounding data centre water consumption is based on information from other locations like the USA, where the temperature and environment is completely different to the UK.”
He added sustainability would be embedded into the data centre's design, including measures to minimise water use.
“Our latest Harlow data centre embodies this approach entirely, and across its entire 20-year lifetime, it will use roughly the same amount that a single family of four uses in 13 months. In total, that’s around 5% of the water one family uses over 20 years.”
A spokesperson for Cyrus One said: "Over the course of this process, we've worked closely with a wide variety of relevant local politicians, community leaders, businesses, resident and community groups.
"Local input has shaped the scheme, and continued community engagement will remain central to this project as it progresses."
A Government spokesperson said data centres were "foundational" in its mission to discover "new cures for diseases, improve public services, and make our energy networks cleaner".
"Without them we risk missing out on the jobs, investment and innovations that will help reindustrialise the UK and drive good growth in every postcode.
"We're updating national planning policy and reforming energy pricing and grid connections, to make it easier to build the data infrastructure the UK needs, while protecting communities and the environment. Data centre planning applications take into account how communities and the environment are impacted."