Campaigners opposing two 'monstrous' AI data centres, each the height of Exeter Cathedral, on Devon farmland have discovered that detailed plans were discussed behind closed doors by the local authority for more than a year before any information was made public.
The campaigners against the giant AI data centre proposed at Great Torrington, believed to be the largest of its kind in Europe, have found that developers created detailed plans for the site some 15 months before minimal information was released, writes local democracy reporter Alison Stephenson.
A raft of documents obtained by the Devon Data & BESS Action Group under Freedom of Information rules show that Xlinks has corresponded and shared plans for the site with Torridge District Council since March 2025, despite telling the public and campaigners that many aspects of the project had yet to be decided.
But the company has defended its actions, saying these were "preliminary site layouts intended to help explain the proposals at an earlier stage in the process" and were now "out of date".
Proposals first emerged about an 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 that this industrial development will ruin valuable farmland and have a massive visual impact on the town and surrounding countryside.
Emily Clark from the Devon Data & BESS Action Group said: "In meetings to date, Xlinks has been very vague about the design of the Devon Data Centre – exactly where it would be sited, how the thousands of computers and millions of batteries would be cooled, and how much water would be needed, for instance – but these plans show that all of those
Campaigners Battle ‘Monstrous’ Devon AI Data Centres