Huge data centre could ‘threaten North Devon’s Biosphere status’
Global organisation UNESCO has said if the massive AI ‘data campus’ and battery storage facility near Torrington was approved, that could affect whether the region continued to enjoy its cherished Biosphere label
North Devon’s cherished Biosphere status could be under threat if plans for a huge 850-acre AI data centre and battery storage facility near Torrington are approved, it has been claimed.
The area is one of only seven biospheres in the UK and UNESCO, the global environmental organisation that oversees them has said if the proposals by Xlinks are approved, that would have to be factored into any decision to allow the area to maintain its status.
A spokesperson for the organisation said: “A development of this scale, in the Transition Zone set aside for sustainable activity, is the kind of change that the UK MAB National Committee, UNESCO’s national counterpart, would factor into its ongoing reporting to the MAB Secretariat.
“While UNESCO won’t be submitting a formal comment on this proposal, the question of whether a data centre’s compatibility with the site’s sustainable-development mandate is one that will feed directly into how North Devon’s continued designation is assessed.”
The spokesperson added that biosphere reserves such as North Devon undergo a periodic review every 10 years against the ‘Man and Biosphere’ programme’s internationally-agreed criteria.
While UNESCO said it does not rule on planning applications and that the Biosphere designation did not carry the legal power to approve or block a development, this “does not mean UNESCO has no stake in it.”
“Biosphere Reserve status isn’t a one-off badge,” the spokesperson added.
“Sites are expected to keep demonstrating, in practice, that they deliver on the conservation, sustainable-development and support functions the designation is built on.”
The potential threat to was raised this month at a full meeting of Devon County Council.
Braunton councillor Graham Bell asked whether UNESCO would be “thinking carefully” about renewing the status if the data centre went ahead.
Cllr Cheryl Cottle-Hunkin for Torrington Rural, the cabinet member for rural affairs and whose ward is where the potential data centre would be, agreed.
She said: “I’m not very confident we would retain [the status] as [the data centre] is on a scale like nothing that we have in the South West and it would be one of the largest complexes in the whole world, so I think it is a good question to raise.”
Cllr Cottle-Hunkin has launched a petition on the government website linked to AI data centres and Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS).
The petition calls for an urgent moratorium on AI data centres and BESS sites outside AI growth zones, mandatory rural impact assessments conducted at local level, and mandatory comprehensive investigations into financing of all proposals.
At the time of writing, it had secured 27,588 signatures. Governments respond to petitions that secure more than 10,000 signatures, while at 100,000 signatures it will be considered for debate in Parliament. The petition can be signed until February 17 next year.
Proposals first emerged about the 850-acre AI ‘data campus’, together with associated battery storage, on farmland between Great Torrington, Huntshaw and Weare Giffard in June.
The Devon Data & BESS Action Group has been working with countryside charity Devon CPRE to fight the plans, claiming the development will ruin valuable farmland and have a massive visual impact on the town and surrounding countryside.
A spokesperson for Xlinks said the project team was working on the design for the campus which was “still at a relatively early stage.”
They said: “It will be shared with residents and councils as soon as possible. We will also take into account feedback we receive as part of an extensive consultation before submitting planning applications.
“The plans referred to by Devon CPRE and the Devon Data Centre and BESS Action Group are out of date. They were preliminary site layouts intended to help explain the proposals at an earlier stage in the process. Therefore they will not form part of Xlinks’ planning applications for the Devon Data Campus.”
They added that the proposals represented “a major investment in the regional economy and will create between 650 and 1,200 high quality, permanent jobs, as well as allowing the South West to benefit from the expansion of AI.”
Xlinks said it would only build on a third of the 850 acres with much of the remaining space open to the public and used for measures to support nature and wildlife by creating habitats, improving biodiversity by “at least 10 per cent.”