[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"branding":3,"analytics":7,"article-devon-council-backed-ai-datacentre-a-year-before-disclosure":10,"sections":49},{"siteName":4,"siteTagline":5,"publisherName":4,"contactEmail":6},"The Revision","Tech news, decoded.","editor@therevision.news",{"gaMeasurementId":8,"adsenseClientId":9},"G-ZW2MV82GYR","ca-pub-8533917693782264",{"article":11},{"id":12,"slug":13,"title":14,"dek":15,"body_md":16,"tags_json":17,"published_at":18,"created_at":19,"updated_at":20,"status":21,"review_note":22,"review_notes":23,"image_url":22,"persona_id":22,"persona_name":22,"section":38,"tags":39,"sources":44,"feedback":48,"feedback_at":22,"cost_usd":48,"total_tokens":48},8004,"devon-council-backed-ai-datacentre-a-year-before-disclosure","Devon Council Backed AI Datacentre a Year Before Disclosure","Freedom of information requests reveal Torridge district council backed Xlinks' AI datacentre plan more than a year before residents found out.","A Devon council quietly backed a massive AI datacentre more than a year before anyone outside town hall knew about it.\n\nTorridge district council in north Devon backed the project without public disclosure, according to documents obtained by campaigners through freedom of information requests. The papers show developer Xlinks had been in private discussions with the council well before the plan became public. Guardian reporter Sandra Laville broke the story after reviewing the released documents. The material made public so far does not include capacity or investment figures, just the timeline of contact between Xlinks and the council.\n\nLocal fights over datacentres are becoming a recurring feature of the AI buildout, as data-hungry infrastructure lands in places with little history of hosting industrial-scale computing. When a council negotiates with a developer behind closed doors for over a year, residents lose the chance to weigh in before positions are effectively locked in. That is the exact gap freedom of information law exists to close.\n\nWhether Torridge council broke any rules is a separate question. On the transparency question, the FOI documents Laville obtained for the Guardian suggest the council came up short.","[\"ai-datacentres\",\"uk-councils\",\"transparency\",\"planning\"]","2026-09-27T13:57:03.000Z","2026-09-27T15:31:10.207Z","2026-09-27T15:31:16.432Z","published",null,[24,30,34],{"id":25,"reviewer":26,"round":27,"reason":28,"status":29},"editor-r1","editor",1,"Remove the unsupported claim that campaigners were 'suspicious about how the project seemed to move so fast' (not in the source), attribute the original reporting to the Guardian\u002FSandra Laville instead of implying original FOI work, cut the closing paragraph that just restates the second paragraph's analysis, and add concrete specifics (datacentre size, dates, council decision details) if available from the full Guardian piece.","resolved",{"id":31,"reviewer":26,"round":32,"reason":33,"status":29},"editor-r2",2,"Remove the unsourced generalization that AI datacentre proposals 'across the UK and US have repeatedly cleared local hurdles' since nothing in the source supports that claim, and cut the closing paragraph, which just restates the FOI\u002Fcatch-up point already made earlier in the piece.",{"id":35,"reviewer":26,"round":36,"reason":37,"status":29},"editor-r3",3,"Cut the unsupported claim that the project was 'already underway' (the source only shows private talks predated public knowledge, not that development had begun), and replace the closing paragraph's unsourced generalization about 'big infrastructure' feeling inevitable with analysis grounded in the actual source material, explicitly crediting the Guardian alongside Sandra Laville.","policy",[40,41,42,43],"ai-datacentres","uk-councils","transparency","planning",[45],{"name":46,"url":47},"The Next Web","https:\u002F\u002Fthenextweb.com\u002Fnews\u002Fdevon-ai-datacentre-xlinks-council-backing",0,{"sections":50},[51,56,61,65,70,75,80,85,90,95,100,105,109,114],{"name":52,"slug":53,"count":54,"latest_published_at":55},"AI","ai",4644,"2026-09-27T19:12:29.000Z",{"name":57,"slug":58,"count":59,"latest_published_at":60},"Security","security",755,"2026-09-27T17:21:07.000Z",{"name":62,"slug":38,"count":63,"latest_published_at":64},"Policy",399,"2026-09-27T18:39:02.000Z",{"name":66,"slug":67,"count":68,"latest_published_at":69},"Deals","deals",261,"2026-09-27T15:30:35.000Z",{"name":71,"slug":72,"count":73,"latest_published_at":74},"Hardware","hardware",188,"2026-09-27T20:46:36.000Z",{"name":76,"slug":77,"count":78,"latest_published_at":79},"Science","science",145,"2026-09-27T09:00:00.000Z",{"name":81,"slug":82,"count":83,"latest_published_at":84},"Consumer Tech","consumer-tech",135,"2026-09-26T14:30:00.000Z",{"name":86,"slug":87,"count":88,"latest_published_at":89},"Software","software",91,"2026-09-25T20:55:00.000Z",{"name":91,"slug":92,"count":93,"latest_published_at":94},"Dev Tools","dev-tools",84,"2026-09-26T04:20:58.000Z",{"name":96,"slug":97,"count":98,"latest_published_at":99},"Startups","startups",76,"2026-09-25T18:33:59.000Z",{"name":101,"slug":102,"count":103,"latest_published_at":104},"Gaming","gaming",48,"2026-09-25T18:35:21.000Z",{"name":106,"slug":107,"count":103,"latest_published_at":108},"General","general","2026-09-26T17:02:42.000Z",{"name":110,"slug":111,"count":112,"latest_published_at":113},"Reviews","reviews",30,"2026-09-24T20:07:31.000Z",{"name":115,"slug":116,"count":117,"latest_published_at":118},"How-To","how-to",6,"2026-06-16T09:00:00.000Z"]