Nobody Wants a Data Centre Next Door. So Who Decides Where They Go?

Key points

• Data centres, the large warehouse-like buildings that store and process data for AI services, are expanding rapidly across the UK and other countries.
• Residents near existing and planned sites report noise, visual disruption, and heavy demands on local power and water supplies.
• Governments in several countries are fast-tracking data centre approvals, which limits the tools local communities have to object.
• Campaigners and local councils have mounted legal and planning challenges, with mixed results.
• The tension sits at the heart of a genuine dilemma: AI requires physical infrastructure, and that infrastructure has to go somewhere.

Every time you use a chatbot, stream a video, or ask a voice assistant a question, a building somewhere is doing the heavy lifting. That building is a data centre, a large warehouse packed with thousands of computers that store information and run the software behind modern AI services. They run around the clock. They are loud. They consume enormous amounts of electricity and water to stop their machines from overheating.

And people who live near them are increasingly unhappy about it.

The Guardian first reported on a wave of community opposition to data centres spreading across the UK and internationally, drawing on reporting from global technology journalist Aisha Down. The complaints follow a familiar pattern. Residents describe a constant low hum from cooling fans, floodlit sites that never go dark, and anxiety about what so much electrical demand means for local grids and green spaces.

Who gets to say no?

Right now, not many people. That is the blunt answer.

Governments in the UK and elsewhere have designated data centres as critical national infrastructure, a legal status that places them in the same category as power stations and hospitals. That classification speeds up planning approvals and makes it much harder for local councils or residents to block a site through normal planning rules.

Campaigners have tried legal challenges. Some have slowed projects. Few have stopped them outright.

What does this cost the environment?

The environmental bill is substantial, and the figures are still growing.

Data centres are not small users of power. A single large facility can draw as much electricity as a small town. Water use is also significant: many sites pump millions of litres through cooling systems each year to prevent the computers inside from overheating.

Proponents argue that newer facilities are far more efficient than older ones, and that many operators are buying renewable energy. Critics say the sheer scale of expansion cancels out those efficiency gains.

What happens next?

The pipeline of planned sites is long, and demand from AI companies is not slowing.

The practical reality is that AI tools millions of people use every day cannot run without this infrastructure. The political and legal question, still being fought in planning offices and courtrooms, is who bears the local cost of a global technology.

For anyone living near a proposed site, the most useful step is to engage early with the planning process, before approvals are granted rather than after. Local councillors and formal objection windows are the most direct tools available to residents.

Common questions

Can a community actually stop a data centre being built nearby?

It is difficult but not impossible. Legal and planning challenges have delayed projects in several cases, but the critical national infrastructure classification in the UK gives developers significant advantages in the approval process.

Why do data centres use so much water?

The computers inside generate enormous heat when running continuously. Many facilities pump water through cooling systems to keep temperatures safe, in the same way a car radiator prevents an engine from overheating.