Hundreds Protest Microsoft AI Data Centre Plan in Leeds

In September 2026, a protest against Microsoft's data centre project took place in Millennium Square in central Leeds, where hundreds of demonstrators gathered to oppose the company's plan to build three large data centres at Skelton Grange. The event was organised by the No Leeds Data Centre campaign, which opposes Microsoft's construction of a large artificial intelligence data centre campus in the area. Under the current plans, Microsoft will build three three-storey data centre buildings at Skelton Grange to support artificial intelligence and cloud computing operations.

Weeks earlier, a petition launched by local opposition groups had collected about 40,000 signatures, aiming to prevent the project from receiving final approval. Richard Burgon, a British Labour MP, took part in the protest and has submitted a cross-party motion to the UK Parliament concerning a pause on approving new artificial intelligence data centre projects. The Microsoft project has obtained conditional planning permission but still needs to complete subsequent approval procedures.

Microsoft said in a public response that the proposed data centre will operate with air cooling systems for the vast majority of the time in order to reduce water demand. Microsoft also said it has committed to matching all of its energy consumption in the UK with renewable energy supply and is advancing towards a goal of achieving "carbon negative, water positive and zero waste" by 2030. Microsoft noted in planning documents that the development of artificial intelligence services, cloud computing platforms and digital businesses requires new data centre construction.

As artificial intelligence applications become more widespread, global technology companies continue to expand investment in data centres. Energy consumption, water demand and carbon emissions are becoming the focus of attention for a growing number of communities and environmental organisations. The protest in Leeds involves both artificial intelligence infrastructure construction and environmental protection.