Lincolnshire datacentre approved despite emissions equal to UK flights

TL;DR:

• North Lincolnshire council unanimously approved Elsham Tech Park, a 1GW AI datacentre campus near Scunthorpe promising £10bn in private investment and 900 jobs.
• The facility’s projected peak annual emissions of around 1 million tonnes of CO2 approach the total from all UK domestic flights.
• The approval adds to growing tensions between the UK’s AI infrastructure ambitions and its net zero commitments, with delivery timelines for similar projects already under scrutiny.

North Lincolnshire council has given unanimous planning approval to Elsham Tech Park, a proposed AI datacentre campus near Scunthorpe that could become one of the largest facilities of its kind in the UK. The developer, Greystoke, says construction will begin in 2027 with partial opening expected by 2029.

Scale and economic promise

The project plans up to 15 datacentre buildings delivering 1GW of computing capacity. Greystoke projects the site will attract up to £10bn in private investment, create 900 long-term jobs, and provide supply chain opportunities for local businesses.

Council leader Rob Waltham called it a “once-in-a-generation investment opportunity” that would bring “thousands of construction jobs” and “hundreds of highly skilled, high-paid long-term roles.”

Environmental pushback

Campaign group Foxglove has challenged the approval, pointing to council documents estimating peak annual scope 2 emissions of roughly 1 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent by 2033-34 — close to the 1.2 million tonnes generated by every domestic flight taken in the UK.

The council argued the environmental impact was acceptable given the site’s proximity to clean energy sources in the Humber region. But Foxglove’s head of strategy, Tim Squirrell, accused the council of ignoring its own policy requiring 20% on-site renewable generation and of accepting developer figures that “underestimated the impact on the UK’s carbon budget by a factor of five.”

Delivery questions remain

The approval comes amid wider doubts about UK datacentre delivery timelines. A separate project by Nscale, intended to provide 50MW of AI capacity in Essex, reportedly remains a scaffolding yard nine months before its planned completion. Another Greystoke-backed facility nearby, Humber Tech Park, received planning permission in August 2024 but has yet to break ground.

Looking forward

For UK businesses watching the AI infrastructure build-out, the Elsham approval highlights a familiar tension: local economic benefits pitched against environmental costs and uncertain delivery. As the government pushes its AI growth agenda, how councils weigh these trade-offs will shape where — and whether — major facilities actually get built.