Community perspectives in hyperscale data centres show an unexpected unifying force for local climate and nature action, writes Annabelle Nelson, as part of a work placement with ELCAN
The cost of land and community identity
The relationship between a resident and their place of dwelling is not just one of survival and circumstance. Rather, the places we live are part of our identity. They tell us who we are and what is important to us. Communities have a right to see their values and interests reflected in their surroundings. As such, when large-scale infrastructure is imposed on an area that has minimal benefits to locals it is very difficult to reckon with. Without consent from the people who live there the very essence of villages, towns and cities can be altered prompting a change in how residents understand where they live.
Huge developments infiltrating communities are hardly unheard of, but the rapid introduction of hyperscale data centres is a new frontier. Whilst they serve the controversial but lucrative global pursuits in Artificial Intelligence they often put an environmental and social strain on the areas they are built in.
In Cockenzie a hyperscale data centre has been proposed on the site of the former coal power station. The dismantling of Europe’s dirtiest coal power station in 2013 had been a cause for celebration for the residents of Cockenzie. No longer would their windowsills be coated in dust with coal ash littering the garden. However, rather than following through on the hopes of residents that the old station site could have been developed into something beneficial, the council have decided to pursue yet another retractive infrastructure project. Cockenzie resident Gail commented, “There is a lot of anger in the community”. Many Cockenzie locals feel that their desires in terms of what they want their village to be like have been ignored.
The data centre proposed in Dunbar raises similar themes of poor land use ideas risking harm to the community identity. If the application goes through the proposed hyperscale data centre in Dunbar will make a waste of fertile Green Belt land that is currently used for agriculture. This contradicts the National Planning Framework which states that developments should not be built on agricultural land unless for specific listed reasons (which data centres do not fall under). Furthermore, as Jo McNamara, Chair of Sustaining Dunbar, explains, the “land extends over the site of two battlefield areas which are of local and national historical importance”. Clearly the creation of a data centre in this area will prevent the production of food as well as opportunities to learn about the town’s history.
The East Lothian Climate Hub 2040 vision for the future asked young people in East Lothian to describe their aspirations in terms of what East Lothian could look like in 2040. Children hoped for less pollution, better connected communities and locally owned infrastructure. “More nature…emphasis on knowing our communities”. Projects that require huge amounts of energy use and disturb the natural environment move us away from what the children of today want the world they will inherit to look like.
Local democracy and data centres
Given their unpopularity it seems like data centres developers often do not want the local community to be aware of their imposition until it is too late to take action. That does not mean to say that developers act illegally to prevent residents from being aware of the project. Rather, they exploit the fact that the current mechanisms for community engagement are hard to understand and make appropriate usage of. The planning system is difficult to navigate for the average person and communities are not given enough power to sway councils. Jo agrees, “I don’t know that there’s a mechanism that exists out there yet to do that (give communities a voice)”. Developers can stay out of the public eye as they gain permission for projects that the community would be generally opposed to. “It just wasn’t on local residents’ radars that the hyperscale data centre was planned for that site…Residents just didn’t know” (Gail, from Cockenzie).
The erosion of local democracy as a result of data centre rollout is depressingly common. Across Europe data centres are planned between governments and large companies without the knowledge of residents or local officials. According to Spanish activist Aurora Gomez local mayors found out about data centre proposals after agreements had been finalised regionally and the project had been announced in the press. The underhand behaviour of data centre developers and the faults in how the system allows for communities to learn about new infrastructure results in a general lack of awareness that these data centres are even being built. Without public awareness of these projects it is impossible for communities to fight against them. This of course is what developers want.
No true community benefits from data centres
Communities are often promised economic benefits from data centres. It seems logical that large scale infrastructure projects will surely improve the local economy. One can assume that the significant funds invested into the project will find their way back to local people.
But this claim does not hold up under scrutiny. Big AI companies are not seeking to improve the area they are developing, they are looking to create profit for their shareholders. Job creation is often put forward as the main local benefit of data centres. The main opportunity for job creation is at the building stage and this will only create jobs if the developers choose to hire from local contractors. After this point data centres require a small number of roles, usually specialised, to maintain them. “There’s unlikely to be very many jobs for local people long term, with the development phase likely to be contracted out to companies outwith the local area” (Gail). Algorithm Watch found that only a quarter of the thousands of jobs promised by tech companies building in Romania and the Netherlands were actually created.
The overarching purpose of data centres is of course to fuel and further the capacity of Artificial Intelligence. AI is increasingly becoming a crucial feature of our lives – economically, socially and even culturally. However issues both ethical and existential have repeatedly arisen from AI. From evidence that AI is able to break out of company limitations to AI chatbots encouraging suicide, the risks of this technology are severe. Currently there is little global regulation for AI, countries are left to determine their own laws. It seems reckless that thousands of data centres are being built across the world, causing widespread disruption to communities, when the technology is so risky.
Data centres in sites of social inequality
It is no coincidence that areas experiencing social inequality are the prime targets for data centre development. Cockenzie resident Gail describes her feelings in relation to the proposals, “It just emphasises what little regard there is for us as a community in East Lothian; we do often feel like the poor cousin”. Lower income communities often have less political and economic agency to fight back. This makes it much easier for big companies to push through their projects.
Large infrastructure like data centres can also lower house prices. This is a prevalent concern in Cockenzie “One lady was saying to me, ‘I have to fight this because I have young children and my house is going to be worth nothing. I’m going to have nothing to leave for them” (Gail). A reduction in house prices is especially detrimental to a community suffering from social deprivation because many residents’ wealth will be tied up in their houses.
Summarising Community views on Data Centres
It is clear that data centres are a burden on the communities they are built in. Data centres can be seen as another case of invasive infrastructure which damages the relationship people have to their local area. They showcase the failure of the democratic system in allowing community members to intervene on projects and have a say. In addition, the rollout of data centres demonstrates the issues in our economic system that allow large companies to extract resources from communities to fund their own wealth.
