Labour’s first artificial intelligence growth zone will be sited next to the UK’s first new reservoir in 30 years, sparking fears that the AI push will add to the “severe pressure” on water supplies in the area.
Keir Starmer announced on Monday that he will hugely increase artificial intelligence capacity and reduce planning restrictions on companies that want to build datacentres by setting up ‘growth zones’ with fewer constraints.
The first of these will be in Culham, Oxfordshire, just seven miles from a reservoir planned by Thames Water in Abingdon, which was supposed to provide water to people in the severely water-stressed south-east. This is the area of the country most at risk of running out of water according to the Environment Agency. Oxfordshire has faced particular issues, with areas reliant on bottled water during heatwaves.
