UK ministers had plenty of time for AI datacenter bosses, but none for environmental groups

The British government has been busy courting AI datacenter companies while apparently finding little time to speak to the people who will have to live next door to their enormous server farms.

That’s according to a report published Tuesday by campaign group Spotlight on Corruption, which found that 84 percent of the stakeholders ministers met with to discuss datacenters between July 2024 and June 2026 were businesses or private-sector trade associations. Environmental groups, by contrast, didn't get a single meeting with ministers or senior officials.

The findings raise questions about who gets a say in Britain's AI Growth Zones, which the government hopes will attract billions of pounds in investment by making it easier and cheaper to build the infrastructure needed to power its AI ambitions.

According to the report, titled Zoned Out, ministers met representatives from 137 different businesses during the two-year period, while permanent secretaries and directors general held no meetings with community groups about datacenters.

Local residents didn't fare much better. Ministers met just two community groups, both after decisions had already been made to designate their areas as AI Growth Zones. In one case, the meeting took place on the very day the designation was announced.

The government also failed to conduct a national public consultation on its AI Growth Zone strategy, despite the potential consequences for electricity supplies, water consumption, and local communities. Spotlight found no independent consultations with residents in the selected areas, although some developers conducted their own.

Even local councils appear to have struggled to get a hearing. Of the ten local authorities and devolved governments affected by the five announced zones, half reported no communication with ministers or senior DSIT officials beyond their applications. Two had exchanged brief emails, while another secured a 15-minute meeting with a junior minister.

The government has been more accommodating to the companies building these facilities. AI Growth Zones offer developers faster planning decisions and better access to electricity infrastructure, with the aim of rapidly expanding Britain's computing capacity.

As we reported in March, the government has also been consulting on proposals that could allow strategically important datacenters to jump the electricity grid connection queue, potentially ahead of housing developments already waiting for power.

So while datacenter developers could soon find themselves jumping the grid connection queue, the people living near these facilities have had little say in the government's plans.

Spotlight also takes aim at the government's AI Energy Council, which includes representatives from Microsoft, Google, and Amazon Web Services but no environmental NGOs. Its Sustainability Working Group, established to examine the environmental impact of AI, managed just one meeting between April 2025 and July 2026.

Concerns also remain about who is influencing policy from outside government. Spotlight identified 38 appointments of former ministers and senior civil servants by AI companies between July 2024 and September 2026, including nine people who previously worked at DSIT.

Spotlight reckons Whitehall's transparency rules could make the picture even murkier. While ministers have to declare their meetings, unpaid advisers don't face the same requirements, even when they're helping shape government AI policy. So there's no way of knowing exactly who has been bending whose ear.

The campaign group wants the government to hit pause on new AI Growth Zones and datacenters until it tightens the rules on public consultation and forces developers to be more upfront about how much electricity and water their facilities will guzzle, and the emissions they'll produce.

The campaign group argues that Britain is falling behind countries including Germany, Canada, and Ireland, which have conducted national consultations on their datacenter strategies.

For a government determined to turn Britain into an AI powerhouse, there's clearly no shortage of companies willing to help build the infrastructure. But finding room at the table for the people expected to live alongside it seems like another matter. ®