TL;DR

Senior UK officials held meetings with 137 businesses while drawing up the AI growth zones policy, but met just two community groups and not a single environmental organisation, according to an investigation by the nonprofit Spotlight on Corruption reported by the Guardian on 27 October. The group also counts 38 people who left government for AI company roles from July 2024 to September 2026, among them ministers, special advisers and senior officials.

What the investigation found

Over 12 months the group filed 40 FOI requests across 18 public bodies, asking about meetings and investment figures tied to the growth zones for the period from July 2024 to June 2026. The meetings it found involved permanent secretaries, directors general and ministers, with some companies seen more than once.

Nine of the 38 had worked at DSIT, the department at the centre of AI strategy. They include a one-time minister for AI and intellectual property and a former No 10 adviser on AI. The few civil society meetings, the report says, were “held a few days before the launch of the policy, meaning they had no meaningful input”.

The group adds that the true count of business meetings is probably higher, because the policy was led by special adviser Jade Leung, a role with lighter disclosure rules. It says Canada, Germany and Australia consulted more widely and set tougher environmental tests, leaving the UK having “fallen behind equivalent jurisdictions”.

A government spokesperson said it wants to hear from communities and environmental groups as well as industry and councils, and pointed to councils in English growth zones keeping all additional business rates from datacentres.

The view from next door

The Guardian’s reporting from South Wales three days earlier shows what that gap looks like locally. In Newport, 27 homes border a 46-acre datacentre campus where residents fear noise from 36 sets of air-blast coolers and fumes from testing 60 backup diesel generators; one resident said local politicians who support the scheme will not come to see it. The same feature counts 315 hyperscale datacentres waiting for grid connections, needing 73GW combined against a typical winter peak of 45GW, and notes that Andy Burnham, now prime minister, has turned down calls for a moratorium.

For related coverage, see our reports on how datacentre policy is split across Whitehall and a council approval in Canterbury.

Looking Forward

Newcastle MP Chi Onwurah argued that communities must be involved in growth zones and see their benefits, pointing to the US backlash. In our view, an FOI record showing environmental groups were never in the room gives objectors at planning inquiries a ready argument, and makes community consultation the next pressure point for the growth zone programme.