A short drive From London, the town of Potters Bar is separated from the village of South Mimms by 85 acres of rolling farmland divided by a scramble of hedgerows. In one of the fields, a solitary oak serves to rest along the public footpath. Recently, the tree has also become a site of protest. A poster strapped to his trunk reads: “Not for the data center.”

In September 2024, a property developer Apply for permission To build an industrial-scale data center, one of the largest in Europe. When the locals caught wind, they started one. Facebook group Hoping to stop the project. More than 1,000 people signed up.

The local government has so far dismissed the group’s complaints. In January 2025, it granted Planning permission was granted the following October to multinational data center operator Equinix Got the land; It plans to break ground this year.

On a dismal Thursday afternoon in January, I huddled around a gate leading to farmland with Ros Naylor — one of the Facebook group’s organizers — and six other locals. They told me they object to the data center on a variety of grounds, but particularly the loss of green space, which they see as a valuable escape route from the city to the countryside and a buffer against the highway and fuel stop looming on the horizon. “The beauty of walking in this area is coming from this place,” says Naylor. “It’s incredibly important for mental health and well-being.”

As the UK Govt Rush to meet strong demand. Larger facilities will also be built for data centers that can be used to train AI models and run AI applications. across gave The country. For those who live closest, though, it’s likely that AI could boost the economy or add new capabilities to their smartphone that they see as disruptive to rural lifestyles.

Red tape bonfire

Since the mid-20th century, London has been surrounded on all sides by a nearly contiguous patchwork of land known as the Greenbelt, which consists of fields, woodlands, meadows and parks. Under UK law, construction is only permitted on Green Belt land.Very special circumstances“It aims to protect areas of the countryside from urban encroachment and prevent neighboring towns from collapsing into an amorphous blob.

After the current government comes to power in 2024, however, the U Introduced new classification of landGray Belt — To describe low-performing parcels of the Green Belt on which construction should be permitted more readily. At the same time, the government announced that it would consider data centers as “critical national infrastructure”. Together, they are transformations Cleared the way for A fleet of new data centers Will be built across the UK.

As they try to develop models capable of surpassing human intelligence, there are some of the world’s largest AI labs. A plan to spend trillions of dollars Overall on infrastructure. Around the world, wherever new data centers are being built, developers are facing organized resistance from affected communities.

When the local planning authority approved the Potters Bar data centre, its officers concluded that the farmland met the definition of a gray belt. He also said his decision was colored by the government’s support for the data center industry. They concluded that the gains from an infrastructural development and economic perspective outweighed the loss of green space.

“People have this slightly romantic idea that all greenbelt land is ancient, rolling green fields. The reality is that this site, along with many others, is anything but,” says Jeremy Newmark, leader of Hertsmere Borough Council, in the constituency that covers Potter’s Bar. “It’s a piece of very underperforming greenbelt land.”