Private prototype. Facts from research on 2 to 3 October 2026; not yet reviewed for publication. Forms do not submit.

All schemes

Early stageSouth West, England

Devon Data Campus (Valeon data centre and battery storage), Great Torrington

Xlinks is running a pre-application consultation on a 1.5GW AI data centre (Valeon) and a 1.8GW battery storage scheme. No planning application has been submitted: Torridge District Council told its 21 September 2026 full council meeting that none has been received, and the developer's website (3 October 2026) says separate applications will go to Torridge 'in the new year'. The consultation has been extended with no new closing date and public information days postponed. The UK government rejected the national moratorium petition on 17 September 2026. No screening request, scoping request, call-in, NSIP direction, withdrawal or legal challenge has been found. [S1] [S2] [S6] [S8] [S12] [S13] [S16]

Key facts

Status
Early stage (pre application) [S1] [S2] [S6] [S8] [S12] [S13] [S16]
Decided by
Torridge District Council (expected local planning authority; no application yet) [S1] [S2]
Applicant
Xlinks (Xlinks First Ltd) [S2] [S4] [S5]
Developer or backer
Xlinks previously led the Morocco-UK Power Project interconnector, which UK government declined to support in 2025; CEO James Humfrey (as reported)
Location
About 850 acres (about 344ha) of farmland between Great Torrington, Huntshaw and Weare Giffard in North Devon, next to the Alverdiscott substation. The data campus footprint is reported as 300+ acres, with battery storage (BESS) on adjoining land. Reported to lie within the North Devon UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. [S1] [S2] [S3] [S4] [S7]
IT capacity
1500MW [S1] [S14] [S17] [S4] [S5] [S6] [S8]
Site area
344 ha [S1] [S14] [S17] [S4] [S5] [S6] [S8]
Buildings
Reported variously as five buildings with an on-site substation (DCD, CPRE) and two 40m data halls (Crediton Courier); buildings about 40m high. The North Devon Gazette and Superpower Daily report that Xlinks says only about one-third of the 344ha site would be developed, with five buildings and two shown at about 9ha footprints each (developer claim; Superpower Daily is a level 7 aggregator) [S1] [S14] [S17] [S4] [S5] [S6] [S8]
Investment (claimed)
More than GBP12bn (DCD); GBP12-14bn (Construction Review); up to GBP3.6bn a year economic contribution, claimed by developer [S1] [S14] [S17] [S4] [S5] [S6] [S8]
On-site generation
1.8GW battery energy storage (BESS), transmission-scale lithium-ion; CPRE says almost 100 acres of battery containers and about 16 million cells (campaigner claim) [S1] [S15] [S16] [S6] [S9]
Cooling and water
Developer position has varied: Xlinks says a revised design will recirculate cooling water and rely mainly on rainwater, with attenuation ponds (developer claim; Resultsense reports air cooling that will not extract local water). An earlier estimate of about 2.9 billion litres a year in severe drought was reported by the Guardian (via The Next Web) and Xlinks says it came from a superseded design. Devon CPRE calls the scheme water-guzzling (campaigner claim). The revised water design is promised during consultation and the application phase; none published in sources opened [S1] [S15] [S16] [S6] [S9]
Designations
Reported to lie within the North Devon UNESCO Biosphere Reserve; Agricultural land (grade not confirmed) [S7] [S8]
Previous use
Farmland [S7] [S8]
Environmental assessment
No screening or scoping request found in sources opened [S7] [S8]

Timeline

  1. 2025-03
    Xlinks began corresponding with Torridge District Council (month only, as reported) [S8]
  2. 2025-04
    Torridge issued pre-application advice for the data centre (month only; the council said it does not publicise pre-application submissions) [S8]
  3. 2025-11
    Torridge issued pre-application advice for the battery storage scheme (month only) [S8]
  4. 25 June 2026
    Public meeting in Great Torrington on the plans, chaired by Sir Geoffrey Cox MP (date as 'last Thursday' before a 29 June report; hundreds attended) [S7] [S9] [S10]
  5. 27 June 2026
    Change.org petition 'Leave Devon Alone! Say No to Devon Data Campus' created (page); 23,581 signatures by 9 July per North Devon Gazette [S21] [S22]
  6. 29 June 2026
    Plans become public; consultation announced for 14 July to 11 August 2026; DCD, Crediton Courier and Okehampton Today report [S5] [S9] [S10]
  7. 3 July 2026
    Cheryl Cottle-Hunkin writes to government ministers opposing the Xlinks proposal and asking for a Rural Impact Framework. The North Devon Gazette report of that date still says applications would go to Torridge in October (since overtaken by the developer saying the new year) and cites a petition of more than 17,000 signatures, which is not identified [S18]
  8. 13 July 2026
    Petition 776949 created_at date in the Parliament JSON (before it opened to signatures on 17 August) [S12]
  9. 23 July 2026
    Devon CPRE page publishes objector register and says submission is expected in the new year [S6]
  10. 17 August 2026
    UK Parliament petition 776949 opened by Cheryl Cottle-Hunkin (Devon County Council Cabinet Member for Rural Affairs): moratorium on AI data centres and BESS outside AI Growth Zones [S2] [S11]
  11. 18 August 2026
    Developer mailer posted on its news and updates page [S20]
  12. 24 August 2026
    Parliament petition passed 10,000 signatures [S2] [S11]
  13. 29 August 2026
    Report that Xlinks gave detailed layouts to Torridge in 2025, 15 months before the public saw them; 2,400+ on CPRE register [S8]
  14. 2 September 2026
    North Devon Gazette reports the national petition at about 14,700 signatures with a 17 February 2027 deadline [S2]
  15. 17 September 2026
    Government response to petition 776949 published (responded_on 2026-09-17, created 08:52 UTC): no plans for a moratorium or mandatory Rural Impact Assessments; data centres are Critical National Infrastructure; the forthcoming National Policy Statement for data centres will set an indicative threshold for direction into the NSIP regime. Both the HTML and JSON views agree on 17 September, resolving the earlier date discrepancy [S11] [S12]
  16. 21 September 2026
    About 200 people (North Devon Gazette; Resultsense says more than 100) protest outside Torridge District Council full meeting in Bideford; council chair Doug Bushby says abuse or harassment of officers and councillors could prompt police contact; council states no applications have been received (reports published 22 September) [S13] [S14] [S15] [S19]
  17. 27 September 2026
    Guardian report (via The Next Web) on the council letter of April 2025 and an earlier water estimate of about 2.9 billion litres a year in severe drought, which Xlinks says came from a superseded design [S16] [S17]

Politicians and organisations

  • Sir Geoffrey Cox MP (Torridge and Tavistock): chaired the June 2026 public meeting; said he was 'making up my mind' over the coming weeks (no later position found)
  • Phil Hutty (Liberal Democrat prospective parliamentary candidate for Torridge) attended the 21 September protest; cross-party opposition noted by the North Devon Gazette
  • Cheryl Cottle-Hunkin wrote to ministers on 3 July 2026 asking for a Rural Impact Framework; Sir Geoffrey Cox: no later position found in the 3 October re-check (only that he chaired the 25 June meeting)
  • Cheryl Cottle-Hunkin, Devon County Council Cabinet Member for Rural Affairs and a Torridge councillor: opposes; started the national petition and cites Valeon as an example
  • Devon CPRE (objector register, 4,185 as at 2 October 2026)
  • Devon Data and BESS Action Group (spokesperson Emily Clark)

Claims

Claims by developers, campaigners or councils, recorded as claims and not checked as fact.

  • Xlinks (developer): 1.5GW of AI-optimised compute capacity; 1.8GW battery storage [S1] [S5]
  • Xlinks (developer): Up to GBP3.6bn annual economic contribution; 2,000-3,500 construction jobs; 650-1,200 permanent jobs; up to 29,000 indirect and induced jobs; at least 10 percent biodiversity improvement [S1] [S8]
  • Xlinks (developer): Alverdiscott substation has spare, highly reliable capacity; attenuation ponds will reduce freshwater use [S1]
  • Devon CPRE (Penny Mills) (campaigners): Job numbers are overstated given automation; development is a gargantuan, water-guzzling industrial site that 40m buildings cannot be screened [S9]
  • Devon CPRE (campaigners): Five data centres each the height of Exeter Cathedral plus almost 100 acres of battery containers (about 16 million cells) [S6]
  • Emily Clark, Devon Data and BESS Action Group (campaigners): Xlinks was 'very vague' about design despite presenting detailed plans to the council months earlier [S8]
  • Xlinks spokesperson (developer): Plans were preliminary layouts intended to help explain proposals at an earlier stage [S8]
  • Xlinks (as reported 21-22 September 2026) (developer): Only about one-third of the site would be built on, with the rest public access and nature conservation; revised design will recirculate cooling water, use rainwater and be air cooled; 650-1,200 permanent jobs; at least 10 percent biodiversity gain [S14] [S15] [S16]
  • Reported by the Guardian via The Next Web; the council says its letter was confidential pre-application guidance on whether a project might be acceptable, not approval (campaigners): Torridge gave private in-principle support in April 2025, before any environmental study or public consultation [S16] [S17]
  • Devon Data Centre and BESS Action Group (as reported by North Devon Gazette) (campaigners): Xlinks engaged with council officers for over a year before announcing plans in June 2026, shown by Freedom of Information documents [S14]

Campaigns

Sources

  1. [S1] Devon Data Campus (project website). Xlinks (developer). Level 3 source.
  2. [S2] Devon councillor launches national petition over rural data centre developments. North Devon Gazette, 2 September 2026. Level 4 source.
  3. [S3] Devon Data Campus in Great Torrington. datacentermap.com. Level 7 source.
  4. [S4] Xlinks Begins Consultation on Massive North Devon AI Data Centre and Battery Project. Construction Review Online, 30 June 2026. Level 5 source.
  5. [S5] 1.5GW data center campus proposed in Devon, UK. DatacenterDynamics, 29 June 2026. Level 5 source.
  6. [S6] AI Data Centre and Battery Field campaign page. Devon CPRE, 23 July 2026. Level 6 source.
  7. [S7] Farmers oppose huge data centre in North Devon countryside. Farmers Guardian, 2 July 2026. Level 4 source.
  8. [S8] 'Monstrous' Great Torrington AI data centre plans kept secret for more than a year. Crediton Courier, 29 August 2026. Level 4 source.
  9. [S9] Opposition grows to huge AI data centre in Devon countryside. Okehampton Today, 29 June 2026. Level 4 source.
  10. [S10] Opposition grows to huge AI data centre plans. Crediton Courier, 29 June 2026. Level 4 source.
  11. [S11] Introduce urgent moratorium on AI Data Centres and BESS outside AI Growth Zones (petition 776949). UK Parliament petitions, 17 August 2026. Level 1 source.
  12. [S12] Petition 776949 count.json and JSON view (fetched live on 3 October 2026). UK Parliament petitions, 3 October 2026. Level 1 source.
  13. [S13] Torridge chair warns of police action if data centre abuse continues. North Devon Gazette, 22 September 2026. Level 4 source.
  14. [S14] Momentum is building (protesters pledge to fight Devon data centre plans). North Devon Gazette, 22 September 2026. Level 4 source.
  15. [S15] Protesters oppose Xlinks 14bn Devon AI data centre plan. Resultsense, 22 September 2026. Level 5 source.
  16. [S16] Council backed Devon AI datacentre before it went public, Guardian reports. The Next Web, 27 September 2026. Level 5 source.
  17. [S17] North Devon Residents Challenge Xlinks 13.8bn AI Campus Over Early Council Support. Superpower Daily. Level 7 source.
  18. [S18] Devon councillor writes to Government over AI data centre plans near Great Torrington. North Devon Gazette, 3 July 2026. Level 4 source.
  19. [S19] Data centre dispute grows as council chair warns police could be contacted. Midweek Herald, 22 September 2026. Level 4 source.
  20. [S20] Devon Data Campus news and updates (18 August 2026 mailer). Xlinks (developer), 18 August 2026. Level 3 source.
  21. [S21] LEAVE DEVON ALONE! SAY NO TO DEVON DATA CAMPUS (Change.org petition). Change.org (starter Devon Otter), 27 June 2026. Level 6 source.
  22. [S22] Devon data centre open days pushed back as petition gains 23,000 signatures. North Devon Gazette, 9 July 2026. Level 4 source.
  23. [S23] Petition demanding suspension of AI data centre approval marks 25,000 signatures. Holsworthy Today, 9 September 2026. Level 4 source.