If the proposals are passed it would make it much harder, if not impossible, for community and climate groups to block resource-hungry tech facilities.
According to Matthew Pennycock, Minister of State for Housing and Planning, data centres should be recognises with special status under the 2008 Planning Act. If this happens, it would effectively allow new IT hubs to circumvent standard local and regional zonal approval processes, which advocates say is holding up expansion.
‘The Government is committed to ensuring that the planning system effectively facilitates development to meet the needs of a modern economy, including supporting essential digital infrastructure such as data centres,’ Pennycock said.
The Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects [NSIP] planning regime allows for eligible projects to replace multiple consent requirements with a single Development Consent Order. In doing so, critics say this approach reduces local engagement in proposed developments and the ability for authorities to have a hand in decision-making.
According to Labour, it is hoped that data centre could be brought under NSIP as early as Q4 2025 or spring 2026. The UK Department for Science, Innovation & Technology [DSIT] will prepare a new National Policy Statement in tandem, which stipulates policy framework, thresholds, parameters, and requirements to qualify for an expedited approval process.
The news will raise concerns amongst community and climate groups due to the huge strain data centres place on resources, including water and electricity. Britain is currently preparing to introduce around 100 new large-scale facilities to help power digitalisation, automation and artificial intelligence. Around 500 are already in operation, although those that are in planning stage have significantly higher capacity than existing hubs, which also means a much higher footprint.
That said, it’s important to note that, in theory, an NSIP comes with more stringent requirements for approval, and only the Secretary of State can green light. It is therefore vital that thresholds for data centres to qualify are appropriately set, and reflect their enormous impact on local areas.
Image: Logan Voss / Unsplash
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