Water and power dominated the discussion, but the chamber still rejected a temporary ban: No won by 300 votes to 192. The result was clear, though the winning side sounded more like a committee demanding safeguards than a room cheering unchecked expansion.
The floor’s strongest No case treated the problem as one of infrastructure and regulation, not prohibition: “No ban but water and power usage must be self generated.” Another highly respected voice warned that “The Grid is on its last legs”, while supporters of growth invoked jobs, investment, national security and the fear of being left behind in the AI race.
Yes voters were not arguing against data centres in principle. Their best-respected case wanted “a register or something” to show the national scale of local applications, while another said, “We need as a country to sort out the supply issues we have first” before allowing facilities to consume more scarce water.
The two sides largely talked past each other: No voters called water and power a management problem, with one saying, “That is a management problem, not a reason to halt growth”; Yes voters saw the projected expansion itself as the danger, insisting that “a fourfold expansion is frankly excessive”. Planning, brownfield sites, local jobs, AI-specific regulation and privately generated green power all surfaced, but without becoming a shared alternative to the ban.
For a self-selected online room, the verdict was less a licence to build than a demand to make expansion pay its own way. The ban failed; the conditions survived.
22 Opinions
Data centres are an important part of modern economic and digital infrastructure, even outside of their usage in the context of AI technology. With that in mind, a fourfold expansion is frankly excessive and places a massive energy strain onto the UK at a time in which we are already struggling to transition to green energy in the face of a climate crisis.
I'm thinking ... let the data centres be built if they also provide their own GREEN power supply and GREEN backup with no connection whatsoever to the UK power grid. Also existing data centres have 10yrs to change to the same setup.
No ban but water and power usage must be self generated
Data centers are not new (everything in the Internet is stored in them) i would prefer having UK data centers running UK services rather than that data being sent overseas. But we have to take a pause on AI data centers specifically. We dont have enough regulation regarding AI and local people have genuine concerns they wish to be addressed first. Faster they cooperate with addressing local concerns the faster the ban can be lifted.
No. But, much misinformation re Data Centres. Why do we need so many & what exactly are they for? The Grid is on its last legs. Been totally mismanaged by UKPower Networks & underfunded by Govt’s. With total MW projected required for DCs in UK something has to give - not not sufficient capacity with obsession with expensive unsustainable renewables. Technology with closed loop cooling so lack of water may be a scare. Of > concern is smart meters - they will be turned off.
YES Temporary being the operative word. Britain is struggling with water supply in 2026, hence the hosepipe bans & drought warnings. We need as a country to sort out the supply issues we have first, before we allow these data centres to be built & guzzle water we don't have. Government needs to pass legislation forcing water companies to build the reservoirs & fix the leaks they should have over many years, before paying anymore shareholder & senior executives bonuses
I have voted yes, I admit there is a tiny bit of NIMBY in my answer. But I do have concerns other than just visual. We need a register or something where proposed data centres are added. Right now it feels like all the applications are via local authorities, so the country doesn't have an insight into just how many applications there are, and thus what resources are required at a national level.
These massive server warehouses guzzle huge amounts of electricity and millions of litres of water while ordinary families face high bills and hosepipe bans. And the resources are simply not there to support them properly at the current rate of expansion. Frankly, we shouldn't let big tech overload our national grid and drain local water supplies before we've built the clean power to support them.
Those banning data centres should be banned themselves from using Insta, Snap, Amazon, iCloud or any other service that uses a data centre. We might see fewer terminally online stupid opinions then.
AI is going to transform the global economy over the next decade and the decisions we make now will determine our place in the world, we don't want to be left behind