Trump and Putin fears raised by councillors discussing data centre plans for Cambois in Northumberland

Cllr Jeff Reid, leader of the Liberal Democrat group on Northumberland County Council told a meeting of the Ashington and Blyth Local Area Committee that he was concerned about US foreign policy under President Trump.

A £10 billion data centre is set to be delivered at Cambois, near Blyth, by US firm QTS.

Mr Trump announced a $500 billion project to be funded by AI giants OpenAI, Oracle and Softbank on Tuesday that would be geared towards building datacentres and computing infrastructure.

Cllr Reid said: “This is the third time we have been promised El Dorado, but we have no idea where American foreign policy is going. The third time isn’t always the charm.

“These people are American, they owe their existence to the American system and the system might not be the best place to look for investment from. It’s just a word of caution.

“It worries me that there’s no logic to American foreign policy for at least four years. It’s not logical any more.

“It might appear to be the easiest, simplest thing in the world because it is the right thing, but that no longer means it is going to happen.”

Deputy leader Richard Wearmouth replied: “I don’t see that as feasible. I remain supremely confident.

“With AI, nobody knows how quickly it is going to grow – you just grasp whatever you can. There is no chance of the money drying up, there’s about $1 trillion in the bank.

“The proof will be when spades are in the ground, which is due in June.”

Sleekburn councillor Alex Wallace, who represents Cambois on the county council, added: “I’m confident that this will happen in Northumberland. It is the site that makes it of value, and you can’t see QTS wanting to sell it to anyone.”

Councillors also raised fears the development could make the area a target for terrorism.

Cllr Caroline Ball said: “There are new threats to the council that we have never had before. We are talking about global tech companies being based in Northumberland.

“When you have tech billionaires wanting all the power, at what point does Northumberland become a target?”

Cllr Wearmouth replied: “Security is really very important for QTS and whoever does end up on that site. There are all sorts of different threats.

“Terrorism was something I raised the other week. It is not just extremist terrorism, it is also state-sponsored terrorism, thinking specifically of Vladimir Putin and about some of his threats.

“I have flagged that. In some respects, it is a national Government issue, the Government has to consider how it protects critical infrastructure.

“We will have to think of that as a country. It’s a very interesting topic, but one I’m confident that QTS have got to grips with, not least because it is so critical for their business.”

The discussion comes in the week the Defence Secretary told MPs that a Royal Navy submarine was deployed to shadow a suspected Russian spy ship that was spotted in British waters.