As Mayor of Newham, Rokhsana Fiaz has many issues to deal with. Her London borough is struggling with entrenched poverty and the capital highest rate residents stuck in fleeting accommodation. But halfway through his second term, Fiaz has a fresh plan to turn things around. He believes artificial intelligence can provide a multi-million pound boost to economic growth and is campaigning for Newham to get its share. “We want to be able to seize the opportunities of the data economy,” he says, “and data centres are a fundamental part of that.”
Fiaz’s support for server farms reflects the enthusiasm of a fresh generation of Labour politicians who expect to be voted into power in the UK election later this week. After 14 years of the centre-right Conservative Party in power, polls predict that voters will back the centre-left Labour Party’s promises to boost economic growth and harness the power of artificial intelligence – in part by making it easier to build more data centers throughout the country.
Last month, Newham approved the country’s newest data centre, on an industrial estate overlooking the Thames. The plan was welcomed by some residents who campaigned demanding against new truck station destined for the same place. “Everybody breathed a sigh of relief,” says Sam Parsons of Royal Wharf Residents Associationwhich means 1,600 people living in a nearby housing development. But personally, Parsons is still concerned — mainly about the noise the data center might make once construction is complete. “There’s a place in America where residents had terrible problems with that humming sound,” he says, referring to reports from Virginia last year. On Thursday morning in Newham, a handful of people WIRED spoke to as they walked past London City Hall near the data center said they were unaware of the plans. Most local residents seemed unconcerned about how the 210-megawatt infrastructure would affect an already heavily built-up area, but one resident, Paul, who declined to give his last name, summed up the general mood: “There’s no need for us at all,” he says.
If Labour does win the election this week, ministers will have to convince the British people who are already well on their way to power. The largest data center market in Europewhy they need even more and decide where to put them.
There is growing discontent across the country and opposition is growing especially strong in areas known as the “green belt,” strips of rural land designated to prevent urban sprawl. Labor is well aware that the party’s plan to make it easier to build data centers risks creating conflict between developers and residents, according to two people familiar with internal party discussions. Residents Amsterdam, FrankfurtAND Dublin clashed with data center developers, complaining about the buildings’ insatiable appetite for electricity and water. All three cities have since imposed restrictions on fresh developments.
“The question for national politicians, not us poor kids, is: What does the country value most?” says Jane Griffin, spokeswoman for Colne Valley Regional Park, a stretch of farmland, woodland and lakes on the outskirts of London where six applications have been submitted for fresh data centres. “Green spaces with trees and lakes? Do we want a huge, huge data centre?”