Data Centre Watch

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59 entries matching · showing 1–15

1. 23 Oct 2026 Updated 23 Oct UK England and Wales Policy

   Eagle moves to intervene in water bills — a first for the price review

   The environment secretary, Angela Eagle, has written to water companies and regulators saying she will intervene in the next Ofwat price review — something no government has done in the five-yearly process. Her letter sets the priorities: affordable bills and value for money, investment in technology that cuts costs, early intervention on leaks and sewage, better communication, and more decision-making power for local communities and leaders. Defra calls it 'not a business-as-usual price review' and 'the beginning of a long-term transition to a different model for the water sector'; campaigners for public ownership called it reshuffling deckchairs. The last review authorised a £104bn programme and a 36% rise in average bills by 2030.

   Why it matters: The first crack in the settlement that lets companies fund investment through bills while outcomes slip — and it is being done by letter, before the next review has formally begun.

   Source: The Guardian [V]

2. 23 Oct 2026 UK Wealdstone, Harrow, London Reported

   Burst main floods Wealdstone High Street during hosepipe ban

   Affinity Water confirmed a supply outage and sent engineers after a burst main flooded Wealdstone High Street in Harrow, closing the road through the morning of 23 October with diversions in place, the fire brigade and police working alongside the company. A small incident in a long season: the same network is under a hosepipe ban in drought, and leaks in the region are already under scrutiny after the BBC found residents waiting months for repairs.

   Why it matters: The ban asks households to save water while the pipes lose it — and the company’s own patch keeps supplying the evidence.

   Source: Harrow Online [V]

3. 23 Oct 2026 UK England Reported

   Reservoirs fall again despite the rain — 54% stored, 13 exceptionally low

   Two-thirds of England's reservoirs lost water in the week to 20 October even as the country took a second week of rain. National storage sits at 54%, about 22% below the long-term average, with 18 reservoirs under half full and 13 exceptionally low — among them Ardingly, Wimbleball, Colliford, Roadford, Stithians, Grafham and Rutland. England has had 52% of its October rainfall and the south-west just 43%; groundwater keeps falling, and the Environment Agency has recorded 411 drought incidents this year, more than in all of 2022. It warns farmers may not refill storage before the irrigation season opens on 1 November.

   Why it matters: The rain has stopped the argument, not the drought: storage kept falling in the week the storm arrived, and the refill season starts with the reservoirs still emptying.

   Source: Environment Agency — weekly drought report, 16–22 October 2026 (GOV.UK) [V]

4. 22 Oct 2026 UK Chapelcross, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland 1000 MW Consultation open

   Chapelcross objections pass 10,000

   More than 10,000 objections have been lodged against CX Tech's £16.5bn, 1,000MW hyperscale campus at Chapelcross — counted through a portal set up by the Scottish Greens rather than the council's own register. At full capacity the site would draw about 7 million MWh a year, which campaigners equate to the electricity used by two million Scottish homes. The Greens' Laura Moodie says the developer's own environmental statement finds a 'moderate adverse and significant' impact, and that emissions would exceed Dumfries and Galloway's legal greenhouse-gas limit by almost double at full operation. CX Tech says surplus heat and dedicated renewable connections mean the claim about household bills is 'completely incorrect', that the campus is 'designed to be operationally net zero', and that it would bring 750 construction jobs, 450 permanent roles and 40 apprenticeships a year.

   Why it matters: The clearest test yet of whether 'largest in the world' can be waved through a council that has been told not to decide until national guidance lands in December.

   Source: The National / Scottish Greens [C]

5. 22 Oct 2026 UK Newport, Wales 1000 MW Approved

   Era4's Newport steelworks campus targets 1GW

   Era4 has set out details of The Mill, on the former Liberty Steel site in Newport: 230 acres, ultimately up to 1GW and as many as 400,000 Nvidia Vera Rubin GPUs, with the first stage — modular units inside existing buildings — due online next year. Planning permission was granted in April. The company says power will be a mix under long-term contracts that does not affect local communities or industry, and that cooling will be closed-loop to keep water use to a minimum.

   Why it matters: Brownfield reuse and a gigawatt of new demand on a Welsh connection — the shape of the next wave, and a test of whether 'responsibly sourced' survives contact with the grid queue.

   Source: Data Center Dynamics [V]

6. 22 Oct 2026 UK United Kingdom Policy

   AI giants give ministers 12 months before datacentre protests bite

   An AI infrastructure taskforce including Nvidia, Microsoft and Cisco has told the government there is 'roughly 12 months' to build a 'compact' that earns public consent, warning that the organised opposition which has stopped fully permitted projects in the United States is beginning to appear here. The Sovereign AI Leadership group wants recommended benefit terms for host communities — an indicative contribution scaled to a site's size, and councils keeping more business-rate revenue (in England's AI growth zones they already keep all the additional rates). PauseAI UK said people would find being 'bought off' undignified; Foxglove said retained rates would mean the companies 'would not pay a penny more'.

   Why it matters: The industry now says out loud what the planning record shows: consent, not capital, is the constraint — and it is bidding for community support with tax that would otherwise go to the centre.

   Source: The Guardian [V]

7. 1 Jul 2026 Updated 22 Oct UK England Policy

   Three data-centre campuses moved out of local planning in four months

   Section 35 directions under the Planning Act 2008 have moved three campuses out of local planning in four months: Wapseys Wood, Buckinghamshire (16 March), Ampthill Road, Central Bedfordshire (15 June) and New Barn Road, Dartford (1 July). Once directed, a Development Consent Order examined by the Planning Inspectorate — and decided by the secretary of state, not the council — replaces the planning application. The data-centre National Policy Statement meant to set the tests for these decisions was expected early in 2026 and is still unpublished.

   Why it matters: It changes who decides and how you object — from a council committee to a national examination, with the secretary of state holding the final word.

   Source: GOV.UK — Section 35 direction, New Barn Road, Dartford (Planning Act 2008) [V]

   Changes (1)

   1. 22 Oct 2026 — Compiled from the GOV.UK Section 35 directions after a 22 October planning-reform analysis; three data-centre campuses have now been moved into the NSIP regime.
8. 21 Oct 2026 UK Somerset, England Reported

   Lib Dems call for on-farm reservoirs as Somerset dries

   Sarah Dyke, the Liberal Democrat MP for Glastonbury and Somerton and the party's rural affairs spokesperson, has called for a national extreme-weather emergency strategy, an overhaul of the water industry and a 'call to store' programme funding on-farm reservoirs, after Somerset was moved into severe drought on 15 October. Wimbleball reservoir, which supplies around 300,000 customers across Somerset, Devon and Dorset, stood at 16% against roughly 75% normally expected at this time of year. An ONS survey of 10,620 adults found 40% said they had been affected by drought in the past year.

   Why it matters: The drought response is splitting in two: cut demand (bans, restrictions) or build storage (reservoirs, on-farm tanks). Both arguments are now being made in the same county, with the reservoir serving 300,000 people at a fifth of its normal level.

   Source: Somerset County Gazette [V]

9. 21 Oct 2026 UK Scotland Reported

   Could Scotland's AI data centres be a target list for hostile nations?

   Defence analyst Stuart Crawford tells The National that Scotland's data centres 'would absolutely' be on a 'target list of any hostile nation', especially with hybrid warfare 'all around us'. It follows the war's first data-centre strikes — Russia hitting or disrupting 14 named Ukrainian operators from mid-September, then Ukraine striking three Yandex sites — and MI5's warning that AI is 'supercharging' cyberattacks, with dwell times down from weeks to about 72 minutes. APRS warns Scotland has 'no control over what these data centres are going to be used for', with around 30 planned and concentrated in the central belt. Edinburgh's Professor Andrew Neal pushes back: no case for singling out Scotland, though data centres are increasingly military-relevant.

   Why it matters: A new axis in the planning row — not just water and power, but what the building is for, and who might target it.

   Source: The National [C]

10. 21 Oct 2026 UK Scotland Policy

    Minister's letter casts doubt on Scotland's data-centre guidance

    Public Finance Minister Hannah Mary Goodlad wrote to Green MSP Patrick Harvie on 8 October saying ministers were still considering whether to bring forward national planning guidance for hyperscale data centres — two days after confirming in a written answer that it would be published before Christmas, and having said in September it would come by year-end. The Scottish Government now insists guidance will be published before the end of 2026, as councils and campaigners press for the safeguards behind the current pause. A Green MSP has urged North Ayrshire Council to back a national consultation on data centres.

    Why it matters: The pause on hyperscale decisions rests on guidance that may not arrive when ministers said — the same 'announce now, decide later' pattern as the UK's missing National Policy Statement.

    Source: The Herald [C]

11. 20 Oct 2026 UK London Reported

    A power event at Google Cloud's London zones takes down UK banks

    A power event at Google Cloud's London data-centre zones knocked services offline for hours on 20 October, taking down banking apps (Revolut, Lloyds, HSBC), Rightmove and court systems before recovering for most customers. The outage — and the Guardian's line that the cloud is 'too big to not fail' — put the UK's reliance on a handful of providers into the foreground.

    Why it matters: The concentration risk in one paragraph: a single London facility's power fault becomes a national outage.

    Source: BBC News / The Guardian [C]

12. 20 Oct 2026 UK Burnley, Lancashire Pre-application

    A £12m data centre under a Burnley hotel — with almost no detail

    Plans would convert the upper and lower underground car parks and basement of The Brunlea Hotel on Keirby Walk, Burnley, into a £12m, 4,000 sq m data centre. The application is filed as a bare 'change of use': no transport, parking, air-quality, energy, carbon, drainage or noise assessments, and it is unclear who the operator would be or how much power it would draw. It is linked to the Burnley-based Real Big Group; a council cabinet member has formally objected, and the application will be decided later.

    Why it matters: A reminder of how little a planning application can contain for one of the most energy- and water-intensive forms of development.

    Source: BBC News / Local Democracy Reporting [C]

13. 9 Oct 2026 Updated 20 Oct UK Norfolk 150 MW Consultation open

    Norwich Apex 150MW scheme into noise scrutiny

    The Keswick (Norwich) 150MW scheme faces noise scrutiny: environmental assessments acknowledge 'very high noise levels' without mitigation, the petition has reached ~15,000 signatures, and the Conservative council leader Daniel Elmer has said he will object (application 2026/2957). South Norfolk MP Ben Goldsborough and broadcaster Jake Humphrey also oppose it over its proximity to Marston Marsh; the buildings are ~20m high with 72 roof-mounted chillers, and consultation opened on 7 Oct. On 20 October around 100 people protested outside Norfolk County Council's headquarters.

    Why it matters: The same questions as Abbots Road — noise, water and farmland — a hundred miles east.

    Source: TMC Insight / BBC [C]

    Changes (4)

    1. 20 Oct 2026 — Added the ~100-person protest outside Norfolk council headquarters (20 Oct).
    2. 14 Oct 2026 — Added South Norfolk Council's Conservative leader Daniel Elmer, who has also said he will object.
    3. 13 Oct 2026 — Added the MP and broadcaster objections, the ~20m height and 72 roof chillers, and the Marston Marsh proximity; consultation opened 7 Oct.
    4. 9 Oct 2026 — First filed.
14. 19 Oct 2026 UK England Policy

    Water bosses called in as ministers order daily drought monitoring

    Water company chief executives were called before the National Drought Group, chaired by water minister Emma Hardy, after ministers ordered daily monitoring of reservoir and river levels. Companies reported holding back less water for rivers, cutting pressure overnight where safe, and moving water between networks. Drought permits are in place for Wimbleball and Ardingly, Wessex Water is preparing seven more, and non-essential use ban applications from South East Water, South West Water and Southern Water sit with the Environment Secretary. The Environment Agency says at least 120% of average rainfall is needed over six months to leave drought by spring.

    Why it matters: Daily monitoring means Whitehall is now watching the numbers itself — and the companies' measures are being reported back as obligations rather than offers.

    Source: Defra / Environment Agency / Emma Hardy MP (GOV.UK) [V]

15. 19 Oct 2026 UK England Policy

    Ministerial direction tells the EA to protect supplies in severe-drought zones

    Defra and the Environment Agency published a direction under section 40 of the Environment Act 1995, instructing the EA to act to protect public water supplies in water resource zones affected by severe drought. It is the legal instrument behind the river-release cuts and abstraction changes being made across the south — the machinery that sits between a drought declaration and a water company restriction order.

    Why it matters: Formalises who decides what when supply runs short: the state, not the companies, holds this lever — and it has now been pulled for the hardest-hit zones.

    Source: Defra / Environment Agency (GOV.UK) [V]