Residents are furious about plans to build a massive data centre that would dwarf their idyllic Devon town. Locals in Great Torrington are 'up in arms' about the proposed AI campus, which could cover 850 acres of countryside with 1720 battery containers.The company behind the site, Xlinks, claims it would create between 600-1200 jobs upon completion and contribute £3.6billion to the UK's economy.But residents are concerned that the campus - located between Great Torrington, Huntshaw and Weare Gifford - would 'destroy' the town and surrounding landscape.More than 25,500 people have signed a petition calling for the gargantuan AI campus to be scrapped. Matt Whittaker, a former Torrington Town Hall trustee, attended a public meeting on June 25 - the day the plans were announced.He told the Daily Mail: 'We know that this data centre cannot go here but we are going to prove it. 'Everyone is up in arms but we are doing it in an intelligent way. We are driven by emotion but we are not distracted by our hearts. It won't just destroy the town, it's far bigger than that.'The 59-year-old voiced his qualms about the AI-generated image of the campus which does not accurately depict the true scale of the site. The data centre campus could take up to 850 acres of land just one mile away from an idyllic Devon town An artist's impression of what the Devon data centre could look like upon completion Ange Wilson-Duffy, Matt Whittaker, Emily Clark and Peter Laing are furious about the proposed data centre