The small English town was part of the global AI arms race

A short ride From London, the town of Potters Bar is separated from the village of South Mimms by 85 hectares of rolling farmland divided by a network of hedgerows. In one of the fields, a single oak tree serves as a resting place on a public footpath. Recently, the tree has also become a place of protest. There is a poster hanging on his trunk that reads: “NO TO THE DATA CENTER.”

In September 2024, a real estate developer applied for permission to build an industrial-scale data center – one of the largest in Europe – on farmland. When locals caught wind, they created a Facebook group in hopes of blocking the project. More than 1,000 people have registered.

The local government has so far dismissed the group’s complaints. It issued building permits in January 2025. The following October, multinational data center operator Equinix acquired the property; The groundbreaking is scheduled to take place this year.

On a dreary Thursday afternoon in January, I huddled with Ros Naylor – one of the… – around a gate leading onto the farmland.