During the development of the datacentre expansion plans, dozens of ministers and civil servants moved into specialized roles. These positions included a former minister for AI and intellectual property, a former AI adviser to the prime minister, a former director of AI opportunities, a deputy director of AI international policy, and a head of AI engineering. Top officials subsequently left government for positions at OpenAI and Anthropic.
The report suggests that the administration failed to take environmental and social impacts seriously. Investigations have also called the policy into question by arguing that it rests on unverified assumptions, unaudited financial figures, and exaggerated projections for job creation.
Spotlight on Corruption emphasized that community involvement remains critical for ensuring that residents see the benefits of AI growth zones. Government departments noted that community benefits for proposed datacentre developments are typically considered through relevant local planning processes.
While the government did meet a handful of civil society groups, those discussions were held only a few days before the official launch of the policy, leaving them with no meaningful input into the planning.
Authorities previously announced measures enabling local councils hosting datacentres in AI growth zones in England to retain all additional business rates generated by the facilities.
The UK government developed its policy on artificial intelligence datacentres and growth zones without holding any meetings with environmental groups, according to an investigation.
An investigation by Spotlight on Corruption revealed that the policy was largely shaped by conversations with business interests. Officials engaged with 137 businesses while largely failing to interact meaningfully with stakeholders outside the technology industry.