Help Challenge the Proposed Devon AI Data Centre

Aim

Devon Data Centre & BESS Action Group, supported by Devon CPRE, need your help to fight the proposed 850 AI Data Campus in North Devon.

Devon CPRE, is hosting this fundraiser on behalf of the Devon Data Centre & BESS Action Group. All money raised here goes into a fund restricted to the Action Group's campaign against the proposed 850-acre AI Data Campus and Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) in North Devon.

Devon faces one of the biggest planning challenges in its history.

A proposal has emerged for a huge AI Data Centre together with a Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) in North Devon's countryside on farmland between Great Torrington, Huntshaw and Weare Giffard.

The proposal includes:

• around 850 acres of development
• a 96-acre Battery Energy Storage System holding around 16 million battery cells
• development on open countryside and productive farmland.
• five enormous buildings reaching approximately 40 metres high (height of Exeter Cathedral) 

Whatever your view on artificial intelligence or renewable energy, developments of this scale deserve proper public scrutiny.

Everyone who has seen and heard about this (still very sketchy) proposal is incredulous that such a vast industrial development, on a hill just to the north of Torrington, could possibly be envisaged for North Devon’s verdant farmland - and it has to be stopped.

You can find out more about the campaign at the Devon Data Centre & BESS Action Group website nodevondatacentre.co.uk and at cpredevon.org.uk.

Why We Need Your Help

The Devon Data Centre & BESS Action Group is a volunteer-led community campaign group. Unlike the commercial developers behind this proposal, the Group has no corporate budget and relies entirely on donations and volunteer time.

Devon CPRE, a registered charity, is hosting this fundraiser so that donations can qualify for Gift Aid. Every pound donated by a UK taxpayer, with Gift Aid, is worth an extra 25p to the Action Group's restricted fund. All funds raised through this page are ring-fenced for the Action Group's campaign and are not used for Devon CPRE's general charitable activities.

Your donation will fund the Action Group's work, including:

• Professional planning consultants
• Legal advice where necessary
• Research and evidence gathering
• Public information events
• Campaign materials
• Community engagement
• Website resources and planning guidance
• Communications to keep residents informed throughout the planning process

Why This Matters

Communities need access to independent planning expertise, not just information provided by developers.

This campaign is about far more than one planning application.

It is about ensuring:

• local communities have a voice
• planning decisions are based on evidence
• Devon's countryside is properly considered
• nationally important farmland is protected
• future generations inherit the landscapes we value today.

See our website for more information about the proposal and our campaign, where you can also join our Army of Registered Objectors too.

Join our army of Registered Objectors

If you would like to help defeat this monstrous proposal, sign up as a Registered Objector here: devoncpre.org.uk/data-centre-and-battery-field

We will keep you informed on details as they emerge, and alert you when it’s time to submit an objection. We will also compile all the reasons why the application should fail, and summarise them for you so that you can create a personal objection that the planning authority will have to consider.

An important democratic principle is at stake in this David-versus-Goliath-type-scenario – small rural communities and a local countryside charity, versus international corporations with deep pockets and big ambitions.

Can you support us in this vital campaign?

We know there are many other demands on your purse at the moment, but we have to act and act fast, before it’s too late. Anything you can give will really help us. Please donate. If you are a UK taxpayer, by pledging Gift Aid, as CPRE Devon is a registered charity, every pound you give is worth an extra 25p to the Action Group’s fund.

Devon CPRE's Role

Devon CPRE supports the Action Group's aims and has agreed to act as fiscal host for this restricted fund, meaning it administers the donations on the Action Group's behalf and releases them for the Action Group's campaign costs. If you would like to support Devon CPRE's own wider work protecting the Devon countryside, separately from this campaign fund, you can become a member at cpredevon.org.uk/join-us 

Thank you!

Funding method

Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made by 19th October 2026 at 1:12pm