TL;DR

A crowd of more than 100 turned out in Bideford on Monday, before Torridge councillors met, to oppose Xlinks’ proposed AI data campus and battery storage site near Great Torrington. The BBC now puts the project at £14bn. Campaigners argue north Devon lacks the infrastructure and sits outside the government’s AI growth zones, while Xlinks promises between 650 and 1,200 permanent jobs and a design that supports local wildlife.

What is proposed

The site spans roughly 850 acres of farmland bordered by Weare Giffard, Huntshaw and Great Torrington, though Xlinks says only about a third of it would be built on. Opponents cite a battery installation of 1.8GW and say the campus would be larger than Torrington itself. Xlinks says the design is “still at a relatively early stage”, and that buildings would be positioned using landform, planting and existing trees to limit how visible they are.

On water, the company says the site will use air cooling with a closed-loop system and says it “will not need to extract water from local rivers, streams or boreholes”. It also says it must deliver at least a 10% biodiversity gain by law and intends to exceed that.

Why campaigners object

Emily Clark, who chairs the local action group, said she was “not actually against AI” but objected to the location, noting the area has not been designated for AI growth. “Food security is national security, that’s what the government has already said,” she added, calling the land “prime farmland”. Rita Farmer, a Devon resident of more than 45 years, described the scheme as “a total blot on the landscape”.

Campaigners had asked ministers for a moratorium on data centre planning permissions, which the government rejected on Friday. Instead, the government says each new scheme has to go through planning, where its impact on the local area and environment is assessed.

How it has escalated

When the plans first drew attention in the summer, the project was reported at £13bn, with Xlinks postponing public information days. The price tag reported now is higher, and the opposition has become organised. Scotland has had the same argument, with a different outcome: Holyrood rejected an outright moratorium but backed pausing data centre decisions until guidance is published.

Looking forward

With a moratorium ruled out by ministers, the Devon scheme will be decided through ordinary planning, where local objections, grid capacity and land-use policy all carry weight. For developers targeting rural sites outside AI growth zones, north Devon is becoming a test of whether jobs and biodiversity pledges are enough to win consent.