Government consults on lifting planning barriers to datacentre developments

The Labour government is opening a consultation on its plans to reform the planning system, as part of its push to lower the barriers to datacentre developments in the UK.

The consultation is being led by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, which is seeking views on the government’s plans to make immediate changes to the National Planning Policy Framework to increase the UK’s housing supply and improve the nation’s economic growth. It will run until 24 September 2024.

As previously reported by Computer Weekly, the government pledged in its pre-election manifesto to introduce changes to the planning system that would make it easier for datacentre developers to get approval for their projects because of the economic benefits server farms bring.

“[We need to] support economic growth in key sectors, aligned with the government’s industrial strategy and future local growth plans, including laboratories, gigafactories, datacentres, digital economies, and freight and logistics – give their importance to our economic future,” the consultation document stated.

Since coming to power on 5 July, the Labour government has already taken steps to support datacentre builds that had previously been denied by placing two projects – one in Buckinghamshire and another in Hertfordshire – under review.

The consultation document features a number of suggested changes to the planning system that could potentially benefit datacentre developers – both directly and indirectly – if approved.

They include a suggestion to “identify grey belt land” in areas of protected Green Belt Land that could be “brought forward into the planning system … to meet development needs”.

One of the stalled datacentre projects the government has already placed under review was planned to be built on a patch of Green Belt Land, but was rejected on the grounds that datacentres are not considered a special enough use case to sacrifice the UK’s protected green spaces for.

Another suggestion that might indirectly benefit datacentre developers is the proposal to broaden the definition of “brownfield land”, which are sites that have been previously developed and abandoned, and “strengthen expectations that applications on brownfield land will be approved”.

As well as these changes, the consultation document is also seeking feedback on the government’s plan to revise how the planning rules governing Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIP) apply to datacentres, as well as onshore wind and solar power developments, laboratories and gigafactories.

According to figures shared in the document, datacentres produce an estimated £4.6bn in revenue each year in the UK, and are forecast to generate an additional £41.5bn and 678,000 jobs for the UK tech sector by 2028. “Digital infrastructure, including datacentres, drive growth across the economy by connecting businesses and public services, thereby enabling them to be more efficient and productive,” the consultation document continued.

This proposal would see datacentres, gigafactories and laboratories added to the list of entities that could be added to the NSIP consenting regime, which would mean local authorities would no longer be responsible for deciding the outcome of datacentre-related planning applications.

This change in protocol would mean that datacentre developers would submit details of their plans to the Planning Inspectorate instead, who would then refer them to the secretary of state to decide if they can proceed or not.

The proposals have previously received a cautious reception from datacentre market stakeholders, who said efforts to accelerate the pace of new server farm builds are welcome, but progress and economic growth should not come at the expense of the environment.