(Image: Drax)
A YORK and North Yorkshire bid to become one of five UK AI Growth Zones has been rejected by the government.
Led by the region’s Combined Authority, the plans selected Drax Power Station for the “world’s first carbon-negative data centre” – a bid that representatives said had the potential to unlock £85 billion.
The proposal said that at least 1.2 GW of “renewable” energy - enough to power over a million homes - would have been secured for the hyperscale data centre, which would have been cooled using licensed river water.
The AI Growth Zone scheme was launched by the government in 2025.
Local authorities could apply to become one of five UK regions awarded millions of pounds in investment and planning powers to accelerate data centre development and strengthen the UK's position as an AI leader.
A government spokesperson said that the Drax plan had failed to meet the criteria needed for the zone – including “credible plans for energy delivery, environmental considerations, and local economic benefit”.
The representative added: “All bids are assessed on their individual merits.”
The Combined Authority said, despite this, the region was “committed to driving the area’s growth”, focusing its efforts on regeneration through mayoral development zones in Scarborough, Selby and York.
'It’s heartening to hear the government has rejected it'
Campaign group Biofuelwatch welcomed the rejection.
A representative said that despite the plan’s guarantees that the datacentre would be sustainable – the use of Drax’s biomass would have made it "highly polluting”.
They added: “The proposed centre was estimated to create emissions equalling the total from all annual flights from London’s Gatwick Airport
“It’s heartening to hear the government has rejected it.”
A Drax spokesperson said that while it was pleased to support York and North Yorkshire’s AI Growth Zone bid, it had “never relied” on its success.
Instead, the power station said it would be focusing on its plans for a 100MW data centre, which would use energy from the national grid.
A statement read: “Drax Power Station is uniquely positioned to support data centre developers through our site’s existing infrastructure, grid connections, and this is recognised in our new support agreement with the government.
“Drax plans to submit its first phase 100 MW front-of-metre data centre to the planning authorities in the coming months and its successful progress could enable a data centre to come online before the end of this decade.”
The initial plans were drawn up in partnership with Drax, North Yorkshire Council and the University of York, along with private and public sector bodies, in an effort to protect “up to 7,000 jobs”, including more than 3,000 in the North of England.
Speaking about this, North Yorkshire Council’s leader, Cllr Carl Les, said: “While we were disappointed that the York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority’s bid for an AI Growth Zone was not successful, we remain convinced that the region has the assets, ambition and partnerships needed to play a leading role in the future development of beneficial artificial intelligence.”