After enjoying unspoiled views for a decade, a ‘sea of glass’ threatens to ruin this rural Norfolk existence

When Martin Little, 76, and his family moved into their cottage near Tilney St Lawrence in rural Norfolk in 1980, they were searching a place to raise their children while being surrounded by nature.

And for nearly 50 years, they enjoyed just that. But now, they and residents in the neighbouring villages of Fincham and Barton Bendish face the prospect of a 4,700 acre data centre being built, which they describe as an “existential threat” to the beauty of their picturesque surroundings.

The Longmarsh Green Energy project, which would be built near King’s Lynn, would require up to 1 gigawatt (GW) of energy at any given time, while an accompanying solar farm would generate up to 1.3GW to support it.

If approved, the two sites would become the largest solar farm in the UK, and one of the biggest data centres in the country, with developers Evolution Power Limited (EPL) saying it could attract £25bn of investment.

For many, the prospect of a “titanic” metal construction appearing outside their windows in the pretty villages have caused deep dismay.

Mr Little said: “We moved here because of the views, the fenlands and isolation. Once you’ve seen the skies and the rural views, it really gets to you. For us, our cottage will be surrounded on all four sides by a sea of glass.”

He added: “I would find it impossible to live here, but I can’t stay and I can’t leave. Who would buy my house? We are now all subject to planning blight and we couldn’t move if we wanted to.”

In Simon Power’s case, he and his wife moved back to Barton Bendish to their “forever home” last year, after spending the past 15 years in the surrounding community. But he fears the data centre could change their plans to stay.

“We have one of the lowest levels of light pollution in the UK,” he said. “It’s disheartening to think of five metre fences with lighting on top being constructed everywhere.”

One of their key concerns is the destruction of agricultural land – West Norfolk is one of the highest-yielding arable farming regions in the UK due to its high organic-rich soils and favourable climate.

“Due to its scale, it will destroy 4,695 acres of the best land in the country. It equates to 25.5 million loaves of bread if you put the whole area down to wheat farming.

“I think the point is that none of us are against data centres as we are all users of data, and none of us are against solar power energy as we all use electricity.

“What we’re against is the fact that you can put a data centre in many places, but you can only grow the sort of crops and the quality and volume of these crops on the land that we’ve got.

“It’s one thing to bang on about being independent and self sufficient in data centres, but you also need to be that in food. You can’t eat data.”

Concerns have been raised over the impact on communities of data centres, which provide the computing power to train and run artificial intelligence (AI) among other things. Earlier this week, chancellor John Healey announced a British Data Centre ​Covenant, requiring operators to invest in local communities, create jobs and protect water supplies ​in return for priority grid connections.

Speaking from her Barton Bendish home, Emily Gerard, 35, looks out of her window as she said: “I’m looking out at a field which is absolutely beautiful. As it is flat land, we can see the landscape for miles, we get beautiful sunrises and sunsets and moonlight – we get an abundance of wildlife, a huge quantity of owls, badgers, deers and others. It’s really something, there’s not much to not love.”

The residents were informed of the plans on 15 October, when leaflets were placed through their letterboxes. EPL has said it hopes to have the project operational by 2032 and that it would create thousands of construction jobs, as well as an estimated 500 “direct operational” roles on site.

However, Mr Power said that while there had been “very generic broad sweeping statements” about community initiatives and jobs, they had received little information on how this would take shape.

A borough council meeting is set to discuss the plans on 16 November, after a number of local meetings and over 42,000 people signing a petition set up by Ms Gerard.

The developers have stated that the area on which the proposed data centre would be built is over 400m from nearby houses and 750m from the main nearby villages.

But residents aren’t giving up without a fight.

“I have been stunned and so proud of how people have reacted. Personally, I’m not yet to find anyone who has anything positive to say about this project at all,” Mr Little said.

West Norfolk MP James Wild said: “I share residents’ deep concerns about the size of the proposed Longmarsh development and further industrialisation of Norfolk’s countryside. When food security is more important than ever, we should not be sacrificing productive farmland for development on such a disproportionate scale.

“While Norfolk must play its part in providing critical infrastructure, there are already other major projects planned, including Droves solar farm, yet there is a lack of coordination between schemes and assessment of the cumulative impact on our countryside and communities.

“Local residents are understandably anxious about what these proposals could mean for their homes and the communities in which they live. Their quality of life must be protected and any development that proceeds must deliver meaningful benefits for the communities bearing its impact.”

The plans have not yet been submitted for a formal planning application, with the developer saying it welcomes feedback in a community consultation, which is running until 26 November.

A spokesperson for the Longmarsh Green Energy Consultation Team: “We recognise the importance of local community input into the design of our proposals and welcome comments during this consultation period prior to submitting a DCO application.

“We have already received helpful feedback during the community consultation, and the points raised will be carefully considered alongside outputs from stakeholder engagement and further technical work as we develop the proposals.

“We are committed to working with residents nearest to the proposals to develop site-specific mitigation measures, including appropriate planting, screening and landscape treatments prior to submission.”

A Department for Energy Security and Net Zero spokesperson said: “Solar is one of the cheapest and quickest forms of energy to build, helping get bills down for good."