WITH this week's visit of American President Donald Trump to the UK, attention has been focussed on the two countries forging new tech links and developing the capacity of artificial intelligence (AI).

One major planned investment in the UK is already planned for Thurrock, with an application lodged with the borough council by Google to create a new data centre in West Thurrock on the site of the former speedway and motorsport stadium.

Data centres are warehouses full of computers – servers and processors – that are proliferating in large part due to the explosion in AI tools like ChatGPT and Midjourney. These require massive amounts of compute power – a ChatGPT query uses 10x as much energy as a google search, for instance.

The computers in data centres are running all the time, using an enormous amount of electricity and running very hot, requiring cooling with a massive quantity of water.

While the economic advantages of such sites will be among the headline talk between President Trump and Prime Minister Keir Starmer, focus is turning on the environmental impact such sites will create.

In an exclusive report today (Tuesday, 16 September), the Guardian newspaper predicts the Thurrock centre will emit more than half a million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year, equivalent to about 500 short-haul flights a week, planning documents show.

The report says, if allowed, the new complex will include up to four datacentres on "grey belt" land, which is how the stadium and surrounding landscape are now classified.

The Guardian says it will 'lead to a net increase in GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions of 568,727 tonnes CO₂е [carbon dioxide equivalent] per year during the operational phase'.

Google's planning application stresses this remains a "minor adverse and not significant impact when compared to the UK carbon budgets", but campaigners disagree, saying the UK has finite clean power and water resources and they are being disproportionately gobbled up by AI data centres.

Opponents say the decisions are largely being made without detailed consideration of the societal and environmental harms they will cause.

The government has already granted planning permission for a data centre in Court Lane, Iver, in December 2024, and another in Abbots Langley, Hertfordshire, in May 2025. Others, including Thurrock and a major development on Teeside, are also lodged with planners.

In August the government's Planning Inspectorate overturned Buckinghamshire Council's rejection of a huge data centre in the county.

The Buckinghamshire decision prompted the launch of a crowdfunding appeal to take the fight against datacentres to the courts.

The plans were submitted by a subsidiary of Google's parent company, Alphabet, and the carbon impact emerged before a concerted push by Donald Trump's White House and Downing Street to ramp up AI capacity in Britain.

Google declined to comment on its planning application for the Thurrock site, having previously said: "We do not comment on rumours or speculation.".

Plans are also well advanced for a huge datacentre on land that occupies the border of Thurrock and neighbouring Havering. Havering Council is supporting the bid and collaborating with private developer Digital Reef to bring forward the proposal for a 400,000 square metre site.

Thurrock Nub News has asked Thurrock Council and cabinet portfolio holder for good growth, Cllr Lee Watson, for their views on the potential environmental impact of datacentres in a borough where air quality and pollution is already a major concern. 

The application for Thurrock has already been challenged by wildlife charity Buglife which launched a petition against it. It currently has attracted more than 25,000 signatures.

Supporters of the displaced Hammers speedway team have also called for reconsideration of the planned use of their former site.