Bid to make North Lincolnshire an AI growth zone

MPs across the region are hoping to bring thousands of jobs and billions of pounds in investment to the area

MPs across Northern Lincolnshire are pushing for the area to become an artificial intelligence (AI) growth zone.

If approved, the project would deliver one of Europe's largest AI data centre clusters, bringing in more than £20bn of private investment and creating 15,650 jobs by 2029.

Melanie Onn, Labour MP for Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes, said: "This is the kind of long-term commitment our region needs to power the next phase of growth."

It comes as an AI factory proposed to be built by the A15 Elsham Wolds Industrial Estate has already sparked concerns from Yorkshire Water over potential flooding risks and water supply in the area.

Earlier this year, the government announced their AI Opportunities Action Plan, which includes establishing AI growth zones "to facilitate the accelerated build out of AI data centres".

Following a meeting in Westminster, MPs Melanie Onn, Martin Vickers and Lee Pitcher backed the proposal for a Northern Lincolnshire AI Growth Zone (NLAIGZ), led by North Lincolnshire Council (NLC) and developer Greystoke.

The project would deliver 2.5GW of compute capacity, almost doubling that available in the London cluster, and would create 14,000 construction jobs and 1,650 operational roles.

AI services need a large amount of computing power

However, in July, Anglian Water raised concerns about the Elsham Wolds data centre proposal, referencing potential flooding risks and water sourcing.

Greystoke said Elsham Tech Park had a "highly water-efficient design" and would use "closed-loop cooling systems" for the servers.

Land by the A180 near South Killingholme has also been earmarked for a data centre, which NLC said could lead to £3bn being invested in the area.

Those behind the NLAIGZ bid said sharing a location with an AI factory would reduce strain on the National Grid, cut transmission losses and anchor further clean power investment.

It added the project would prioritise steel produced in Scunthorpe with its UK Steel Charter.

'Transform local communities'

Onn said: "Locating major AI and data infrastructure alongside our offshore wind and carbon capture industries will mean new investment, high-value jobs and new skills opportunities for people across Grimsby, Cleethorpes and the wider region."

A Department for Science, Innovation and Technology spokesperson said: "AI Growth Zones will transform local communities, delivering billions in investment and thousands of new jobs to give working people a real stake in our AI-powered future.

"There have been more than 200 expressions of interest from across the country to host potential sites and we're naturally working closely with many of them to identify the most promising to take forward."

The spokesperson added sites would be moved forward "as soon as they are ready" and further announcements would follow "in due course".

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