NORTHUMBERLAND County Council’s cabinet has unanimously agreed to pave the way for a new AI data campus that councillors claim will put the county on the “global map”.

The local authority has agreed to remove a buy-back clause on the land that previously belonged to failed start-up Britishvolt.

This will allow investment firm Blackstone to develop a series of AI data centres, providing the necessary computing power needed to drive the booming artificial intelligence sector.

The American company, along with its data centre subsidiary QTS, will invest up to £10 billion in the area as well as pumping £110 million into the council’s coffers, which will be used to fund business investments to create jobs across the county.

At Tuesday’s cabinet meeting (April 23), council leader Glen Sanderson stated that the project represented one of the largest investments ever seen in the country.

He added: “This will place our county on the global map and potentially attract other high-tech companies to Northumberland. It will bring hundreds of jobs to the county and create thousands of well-paid construction jobs.

“AI is tomorrow. We’re making a decision about technology for tomorrow for the world tomorrow.

“The fact that Northumberland has been chosen to be the purveyor of this and a partner in this is hugely significant.”

READ MORE: Billions of pounds in investment proposed for former Britishvolt site

Deputy leader Cllr Richard Wearmouth felt it was fitting that the North East and Blyth in particular, which had been at the centre of the industrial revolution thanks to its railway heritage, would now be at the heart of the AI revolution.

He said: “This is an amazing opportunity to create something spectacular on this site. There will be a series of these large data centres and it will be right at the heart of the AI revolution.

“AI will be a massive part of our lives. It will create huge amounts of opportunities – it will transform the way we work, making it more easy to work, making us much more productive and allow us as human beings to add so much more value to our lives and to our economy.

“People no doubt think of chatbots, but it’s not that at all that will be really transformational, it’s things like our health services, our green technology. We’re sitting in a part of Northumberland where the railway tracks that formed the Stockton to Darlington Railway were built nearly 200 years ago.

“It is quite fitting that a place that enabled the industrial revolution two centuries ago is this time at the heart of an AI revolution. It is a fantastically exciting thing.”

The council has previously said the project will create more than 1,600 direct jobs, including 1,200 long-term construction jobs, as well as more than 2,700 indirect jobs. Cabinet member for education Cllr Guy Renner Thompson asked for assurances that local people would be able to access the new roles.

He said: “I have always said there is no point bringing this investment into Northumberland if local people don’t benefit. If we’re just importing skilled workers from elsewhere, we have failed in our mission.”

Cllr Sanderson assured his colleague that support and education would be available to help local people upskill.

He said: “What I would say is we’re absolutely sure that this will give great opportunities to people across the county to upskill and to find jobs, not just within the centres but during the construction phase.

“This is jobs, this is wealth and this is motivation and confidence coming into our communities. It’s a fantastic opportunity.”

Cllr Wearmouth added: “I think it shouldn’t be forgotten that there will be a huge amount of work going on to construct this. It’s going on for a long period of time.

“There will be lots of work and lots of opportunities. I know that Blackstone and QTS from everything we have seen in the meetings we have had are about embedding in the community and working with local schools and skills providers to make sure opportunity is enhanced wherever that is feasible.”