With hundreds of datacentres awaiting planning permission and 315 queueing<\/a> to connect to the National Grid, there is growing concern over a lack of transparency and justification for these projects given their environmental impact.<\/p>\n Ministers announced plans in January to allow qualifying datacentres to opt into the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project scheme. This lets developments bypass local planning committees by securing approval from the government. Campaigners say this \u201cinsulates\u201d datacentres from local scrutiny.<\/p>\n Zack Polanski<\/a>, the Green party leader in England and Wales, said: \u201cThe government plans to steamroller over local opposition so private companies can build these facilities \u2013 yet they can\u2019t even explain what the benefits are and who is benefiting.\u201d<\/p>\n Plans have been submitted for a third DataVita datacentre in Chapelhall, Airdrie. The Scottish government is said to be considering a moratorium on new datacentres. Photograph: Murdo MacLeod\/The Guardian<\/p>\n Datacentres use a huge amount of resources. The Guardian revealed last month<\/a> that two planned sites will have higher carbon emissions than ExxonMobil in the UK, with concerns raised over how this will fit within the country\u2019s carbon targets.<\/p>\n The government designated datacentres as critical national infrastructure in 2024 and campaigners fear this could mean the water-hungry sites are prioritised over households in times of drought. Water UK, the trade body representing water companies in Britain and Northern Ireland, warned in July<\/a> that the UK did not have enough water for the datacentre expansion.<\/p>\n Polanski said: \u201cWhat is more \u2018critical\u2019 than people\u2019s access to water? What is more \u2018critical\u2019 than our need to transition to a low-energy, low-pollution world so we can put the brakes on climate extremes?\u201d<\/p>\n While there is consensus that datacentres can provide some essential services, there are concerns that developments with a huge environmental impact and local opposition<\/a> are being prioritised regardless of their use.<\/p>\n Oliver Hayes of Global Action Plan, the environmental charity which submitted the FoI request, said: \u201cIt\u2019s highly likely that we\u2019re going to end up seeing datacentres given favourable and preferential treatment when it comes to resources that are actually running chatbots or enabling people to do benign and very wasteful, pointless things.<\/p>\n \u201cAt the more serious end, these datacentres could be powering chatbots that enable people to nudify teens without their consent and much worse, frankly.\u201d<\/p>\n
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