Slough has become the data centre capital of Europe. Now it wants its reward

{"text":[[{"start":10.78,"text":"The UK council overseeing Europe’s data centre capital has asked companies to provide more benefits for local people, as a backlash against AI infrastructure threatens to gather pace."}],[{"start":21.7,"text":"Slough, a town in Berkshire on the borders of west London, already has more than 40 data centres and is widely considered the largest data hub in Europe. But plans for a slew of new projects closer to residential areas have sparked community pushback."}],[{"start":36.98,"text":"In a letter to operators, Slough borough council warned that if “the town hosts nationally significant digital infrastructure, local people should be able to see a positive legacy from that relationship”."}],[{"start":47.58,"text":"The document, seen by the FT, proposed projects ranging from £250,000 for “visible quick wins” to “transformative” £1mn annual contributions. It stressed that the programme would be “co-designed with participating operators”."}],[{"start":63.54,"text":"The UK government has hailed the construction of the data centres needed to support AI as a part of its growth push."}],[{"start":70.08,"text":"In June, planning minister Matthew Pennycook credited Slough as being an “internationally recognised location for data centres” and acknowledged the “unprecedented demand for data centres and a growing trend towards larger facilities” in the area."}],[{"start":83.28,"text":"However, a campaign by residents in Slough to oppose new data centres has picked up pace in local months, joining communities in Scotland, Devon, Essex and London’s Tower Hamlets alongside a wider global movement."}],[{"start":null,"text":"

"}],[{"start":96.08,"text":"The council, which declared effective bankruptcy in 2021, is trying to remain attractive to data centre operators while pushing to secure bigger contributions for local improvement projects. The area has struggled with poverty, high housing costs and health inequality."}],[{"start":112.08,"text":"“We have not seen any benefits,” said Ambily Banerjee, a longtime resident who founded the Slough Against Data Centres campaign. “We have not seen a decline in our council tax. We have not seen our high street improve. We have not seen any improvement in the quality of life.”"}],[{"start":128.04,"text":"Slough is an appealing destination for data centres. A former manufacturing town, it was once home to a Horlicks malted milk factory, a Ford production line and a Gillette razor-making plant."}],[{"start":139,"text":"The hollowing-out of the town’s industrial estate has left ample power availability, while a private aquifer, proximity to Heathrow airport and its position near transatlantic cables have all helped Slough recast itself for the demands of AI."}],[{"start":154.3,"text":"The Slough Trading Estate — a sprawling mixed industrial and residential site owned by London Stock Exchange-listed Segro — became a computing hub during the first wave of cloud data centres in the 2010s."}],[{"start":166.92,"text":"But the planned development of new data centres in more affluent residential areas, including a Microsoft site near a busy Elizabeth Line railway station and an Amazon data centre in nearby Iver, has galvanised residents in recent months."}],[{"start":181.52,"text":"In June, Pennycook approved a data centre on suburban greenbelt land proposed by London-listed Tritax Big Box that had initially been refused by the council."}],[{"start":191.36,"text":"Proponents say the AI boom has led to the creation of local jobs as well as developer contributions to enhance cycle routes, clean up the Grand Union Canal and green the trading estate."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":202.6,"text":"Simplified council planning regulations on the trading estate are helping to boost Slough’s data centre boom. Daniel Ray, chief planning officer for the council, said he understood the concerns that local residents were not seeing visible benefits, calling them “not inaccurate to a certain degree”."}],[{"start":219.02,"text":"But better communication was needed to publicise the positive impacts, he added. A recent report by Kao, a data centre operator with facilities in Slough, suggested data centres contributed more than £30mn a year in business rates for the council."}],[{"start":236.16,"text":"“Data centre development typically generates hundreds of jobs during construction and supports skilled roles in engineering, operations and maintenance once facilities are running,” said Andrew Pilsworth, managing director for data centres and strategic partnerships at Segro, which owns the estate."}],[{"start":252.56,"text":"Segro had been supporting a programme to help prepare young people for work, backing “local environmental, health and wellbeing causes” and providing free industrial space to Slough Foodbank, he added."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":263.6,"text":"But residents argue the data centre industry’s contributions have been largely cosmetic. Their campaign has called for a pause on new data centres until a study has been completed into their cumulative impact."}],[{"start":275.88,"text":"Last month, the campaign attended a council meeting where the Conservative-led Slough administration voted unanimously in support of a motion calling on the government to conduct a cumulative impact assessment. However, the motion did not go as far as to recommend a moratorium."}],[{"start":291.04,"text":"Sabia Akram, leader of the opposition Liberal Democrat group of councillors, said Slough needed to make better use of its leverage with data centre operators."}],[{"start":301.56,"text":"“I don’t think we necessarily are playing our best hand right now,” she added, citing a school bus service and a swimming pool as potential projects that data centre operators could fund for the benefit of residents."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":312.88,"text":"There are also worries that the data centre boom has come at the expense of other council building projects, including new homes."}],[{"start":320.36,"text":"A line of terraced houses leads to a former AkzoNobel paint factory on the trading estate that was recently converted into a new Yondr data centre complex."}],[{"start":329.5,"text":"Another part of the site that was owned by the council was set to become 1,000 new social and affordable homes."}],[{"start":336.2,"text":"But in 2022, the council announced it would sell off the land to data centre operator Equinix for £144mn to raise funds following its effective bankruptcy."}],[{"start":346.96,"text":"In August 2025, Equinix agreed to pay an additional £6.7mn to the council to support local training and transport improvements, among other programmes, as part of conditions to receive planning consent for the new three-building data centre."}],[{"start":362.36,"text":"From an economic standpoint, Slough remains an anomaly."}],[{"start":365.8,"text":"The town, which served as the famously dull setting of TV comedy The Office, is one of the most economically productive in the country."}],[{"start":373.8,"text":"Rob Johnson, senior analyst at the Centre for Cities think-tank, said that was in part because of the presence of data centres, which generate strong economic output with relatively low employment."}],[{"start":384.72,"text":"But Slough also faced high levels of deprivation, Johnson noted, adding that many wealthier locals chose to spend their money in nearby Windsor and Eton."}],[{"start":393.44,"text":"“It shows the risk of going all in on a perceived local strength, where that can’t compensate for having a range of local industries,” he said."}],[{"start":401.44,"text":"The UK government said in a statement that a pause on data centres “would be a disaster for jobs and national security” but added that this “does not mean a blank cheque for big tech or that every data centre should be approved”."}],[{"start":414.32,"text":"For Banerjee, the Slough campaigner, the perceived lack of benefits from the data centre boom underscores a wider problem with overseas tech companies operating in the UK."}],[{"start":423.72,"text":"“The government says it’s great for the UK — actually the profits are flying out of the UK.”"}],[{"start":436.48,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1793096185_3680.mp3"}