As Mayor of Newham, Rokhsana Fiaz faces many challenges. Her London borough is struggling with endemic poverty and highest rate Newham residents are stuck in temporary housing. But halfway through her second term, Fiaz has a new plan to turn things around. She believes AI could provide a multi-million pound boost to economic growth, and she’s campaigning for Newham to get a share of that funding. “We want to be able to seize the opportunities of the data economy,” she says, “and data centres are a key part of that.”
Fiaz’s support for server farms reflects the enthusiasm of a new generation of Labour politicians who expect to be voted into power in the UK election later this week. After 14 years of centre-right Conservative rule, polls predict voters will embrace the centre-left Labour Party’s promises to revive economic growth and harness the potential of AI, including by making it easier to build. more data centers Across the country.
Last month, Newham approved the country’s latest data centre, on a plot of industrial land overlooking the Thames. The project was welcomed by some residents, who had campaigned fiercely against such a plan. new truck depot destined for the same site. “Everyone breathed a sigh of relief,” says Sam Parsons of the Royal Wharf Residents Associationrepresenting 1,600 people who live in a nearby subdivision. Personally, Parsons is still concerned, especially about the noise the data center could make once construction is complete. “There’s one place in America where residents have had a lot of trouble with that hum,” he said, referring to reports Last year, in Virginia, a Newham resident moved from the data center site to Newham. On a Thursday morning, the handful of people WIRED interviewed as they passed nearby London City Hall said they were unaware of the plans. Most locals seemed unconcerned about the impact the 210-megawatt infrastructure would have on an already heavily urbanized area, but one resident, Paul, who declined to give his last name, summed up the general sentiment: “We don’t need this at all,” he said.
If Labour is elected to power this week, ministers will have to convince citizens across the UK, already The largest European market for data centerswhy they need more and decide where to put them.
Discontent is brewing across the country, with opposition particularly strong in areas known as the “green belt,” strips of countryside designated to prevent urban sprawl. Labor is well aware that the party’s plan to make it easier to build data centers risks causing conflict between developers and residents, according to two people familiar with the party’s internal discussions. Amsterdam, FrankfurtAnd Dublin The cities of Vancouver and Vancouver have clashed with data center developers, complaining about the buildings’ insatiable appetite for electricity and water. All three cities have since imposed restrictions on new projects.
“The question for national policymakers, rather than us, is: what does the country value most?” says Jane Griffin, a spokeswoman for Colne Valley Regional Park, a stretch of farmland, woodland and lakes on the outskirts of London where six applications for new data centres have been submitted. “Green spaces with trees and lakes? Or do we want a massive, large data centre?”
