Torridge Council Letter on AI Growth Zone Rescinded

The row surfaced after Green councillor Huw Thomas said he would seek a motion on Dec. 7 calling for the letter to be formally withdrawn, arguing the council had backed a commercial proposal without independently assessing its impact. He said residents raised concerns after campaigners from the Devon Data Centre & BESS Action Group obtained the letter through freedom of information requests.

The council’s position is that no formal withdrawal is needed because the letter relates to a proposal that is no longer active, and that any future request for support would be considered on its merits. Leader Ken James said the letter was intended only to keep open discussions about high-skilled jobs and social mobility, not to endorse the specifics of any future data centre or site.

For investors, the issue is less about one letter than about the fragility of the local consent process around AI infrastructure. Britain’s AI buildout depends on councils, landowners and grid connections, and opposition from residents or councillors can slow or reshape projects even before planning applications are lodged.

The government launched the AI Growth Zone programme on April 30, with an initial May 31 deadline before shifting the framework the next day to a rolling application process. That leaves the field open, but also makes local politics more important: developers must still win over councils, communities and regulators in a sector where AI data centres are expected to demand heavy capital spending, power capacity and long lead times.

The controversy also lands as broader AI sentiment remains mixed. Adalytica’s AI sentiment snapshot shows “Extreme Fear” at 4, underscoring how quickly enthusiasm around the sector can collide with execution risk, permitting friction and public backlash, even as companies and governments continue to chase the productivity gains promised by AI.