On 7 August, we reported that Labour was forcing an unwanted data centre on the people of Brick Lane. Now, the Green Party has described the plan as follows:
Why has Andy Burnham’s Labour approved a water and energy guzzling data centre in Brick Lane when:
30,000 people in Tower Hamlets are currently awaiting housing
London is in a period of extreme drought and residents in Tower Hamlets have already been left without water… pic.twitter.com/Zj9nndQcJo
— The Green Party (@TheGreenParty) August 11, 2026
Labour’s “Market Stalinism”
The local council wanted to redevelop the Truman Brewery into a site with 800 homes. This isn’t happening because the government weighted the decision process to favour a data centre.
Londoners march down Brick Lane protesting plans to build a data centre on the site of the Truman Brewery.
The data centre was rejected by Tower Hamlets council but has been forced through by Labour. pic.twitter.com/4kQQYHjzrn
— PoliticsJOE (@PoliticsJOE_UK) August 9, 2026
Writing for the Canary on 7 August, Hugo Harvey described Labour’s intervention as “Market Stalinism”, noting:
The late great theorist Mark Fisher might refer to the government’s behaviour in this case as “market Stalinism.” Fisher identifies a system that opposes centralized, bureaucratic and authoritarian Stalinist planning, but, in fact, reproduces it via capitalism.
Under this system, the pursuit of material progress for everyday people is overlooked in favour of hitting targets for profits or growth, standing in for Stalin’s five-year plans, so that the metrics become the ends in and of themselves. That means branding achievements become more important than achieving any sort of material benefit for ordinary people.
There are significant material benefits which could have been achieved for local people too. In Brick Lane, there are currently 30,000 households on the social housing waiting list. The Truman Brewery site could have provided a decent chunk of the needed capacity; instead it’s going to drain the local area of resources like water and energy.
Think locally
The grim irony is that while Andy Burnham’s government is making moves like this, it’s also talking up its devolution credentials:
Brick Lane said no to data centre
Your govt over ruled them https://t.co/KaTYQvDfig— Beats Surrender (@BeatsSurrender) August 11, 2026
You’re building an AI data centre on Brick Lane despite overwhelming opposition from the local council and residents. https://t.co/cMwLVrn296
— Peace & Justice Project (@corbyn_project) August 11, 2026
In response to the government’s intervention, Tower Hamlets executive mayor Lutfur Rahman said:
I am deeply disappointed by the Government’s intervention to approve a development on Brick Lane despite objections from 7,000 people and Tower Hamlets Council rejecting the application, which includes a proposed data centre.
It is a scandal that this will only deliver 6 homes for social rent in one of the most overcrowded and densely populated places in the country, while thousands of families languish on housing waiting lists and a staggering 1 in 21 children in London are homeless. We will never get back this missed opportunity to deliver the social and affordable housing Tower Hamlets residents urgently need.
I have stood alongside the community in expressing local concerns about the impact of this development on Brick Lane and Banglatown, including gentrification driving up costs and pushing out residents, as well as threatening the future of the historic curry houses and beigel shops that make Brick Lane so unique. This iconic, densely populated destination is clearly not suitable for a data centre.
We support regeneration which benefits local people, protects cultural heritage and strengthens communities. This must always be shaped by the needs of residents, not private profit.
Water hungry
Certain data centres use far more water than others; particularly AI data centres. At the same time, it’s hard to grasp quite how much water any data centre will use, because — as we reported — “companies don’t even need to monitor or report on how much water they use”. This fact alone makes every data centre project seem concerning in the eyes of the public.
In 2025, a report from a government advisory group reported:
The UK already faces a projected daily water deficit of nearly 5 billion litres by 2050, a challenge exacerbated by climate change and population growth. A critical policy gap exists as current national water resource plans, including those finalised in 2025 by water companies, do not adequately account for the burgeoning demand from infrastructure such as AI data centres
As we’re seeing, it’s also the case that climate change is accelerating. We don’t know how much it will accelerate between now and 2050, but potentially that 5 billion litre deficit could end up being optimistic. And despite this, the government keeps making decisions which will only make things worse.
There is something the government could do to improve this situation, and that’s renationalise the failing water companies. Decades of under-investment has led to a situation in which the plentiful water which rains down on this country is slipping between our fingers:
Water firms across the country are announcing hosepipe bans.
All while:
– 3 billion litres of water are wasted daily through leaks.
– Not a single major reservoir has been built since privatisation.Time for public ownership: https://t.co/wclY6xs74x pic.twitter.com/BNlFjmfLr3
— Clive Lewis MP (@labourlewis) July 15, 2025
Despite this, Burnham isn’t talking about nationalisation; he’s instead speaking about ‘stronger public control’. We’ve had regulators in the past, and they didn’t work; as such, it’s hard to see how more of the things which failed will solve anything.
Labour, pick a lane!
On the one hand, Andy Burnham is talking up his credentials on devolution and Net Zero; on the other, he’s talking about drilling for oil and forcing local communities to live alongside energy-guzzling data centres. Clearly, something doesn’t add up here. And the longer this goes on for, the sooner voters will see through Burnham’s plastic politics.
Featured image via Laura Park / PA Images / AFP
By Willem Moore
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