Girl, 9, asks council to ‘fight’ in Torrington data centre row

Xlinks has said the data campus would take up just over a third of an 850-acre (3.4 sq km) site between Great Torrington, Weare Gifford and Huntshaw, with the entire site being larger than Great Torrington.

About 100 people turned out to protest against the plans ahead of the Torridge District Council meeting.

The data centre proposals were not being discussed on Monday, but there were other public speakers who voiced their opposition, including Matt Whittaker, who played a recording of the noise of a data centre as he spoke.

Giles Atton, who also spoke in the meeting, said the boundary of the data centre would be 3m (10ft) away from his property.

He said: “It will cause irreparable damage to the lives of people in Torrington and the surrounding areas.”

Atton said the development could also “set a very damaging precedent” for “Devon as a whole and the nation” if it was allowed to be built on “prime greenfield land”.