The evolution of planning consent for Data Centres

In recent months, the planning rules for data centres in the UK have undergone a significant transformation. Once overlooked in national policy and often met with resistance at the local level, data centres are now a target of planning reform, driven by the government’s strategic focus on digital infrastructure and artificial intelligence. This article outlines the key developments, recent decisions, and upcoming changes to planning rules that developers and investors should be aware of.

New approach to planning permission for data centres

Until late 2024, data centres were largely absent from national planning frameworks. There were no specific policies or guidance addressing their locational and infrastructure needs. As a result, developers were required to seek planning permission from local authorities under general industrial or commercial use classes. This led to inconsistent outcomes and significant delays, particularly where proposals involved green belt land.

However, the past 12 months have seen a marked shift. The government has made clear its intention to support the growth of data centres as part of a broader strategy to position the UK as a global leader in AI and digital services. This has culminated in a series of policy changes and ministerial interventions that are beginning to reshape the planning environment.

In September 2024, the government designated data centres as Critical National Infrastructure which gave data centres the benefit of additional cyber security support, underscoring their importance to national economic resilience. While this designation does not alter planning policy directly, it signalled the government's strategic imperative to support DC development, which in turn helps evidence the economic need for new data centres within any planning application.

Then the December 2024 revision of the National Planning Policy Framework ("NPPF") made specific reference to data centres for the first time. It now requires planning policies to pay particular regard to the economic need for data centres and digital infrastructure, and planning decisions must take into account their specific locational needs (see paragraphs 86 and 87 NPPF).

The new NPPF also introduced the concept of “grey belt” land. Grey belt refers to land within the green belt that has been previously developed or is otherwise underutilised and does not strongly contribute to the green belt’s core purposes. This new designation allows for a more flexible approach to development by removing the difficult requirement to show "Very Special Circumstances" that would ordinary be needed to justify development in the green belt. This change will open up new grey belt sites for infrastructure projects like data centres that need to be sited in particular locations and where the viable sites may have previously only been in the green belt.

Under the revised NPPF, local planning authorities are also now required to identify suitable sites for data centres in their Local Plans. This includes making provision for clusters of industries and the infrastructure needed to support their growth for example, electricity grid updates. While this is a welcome development, the process of updating Local Plans is slow and complex. It may take several years before these changes are fully embedded at the local level and begin to influence planning decisions. For now, developers will need to show on a case-by-case basis that the site is grey belt land as part of their planning application.

Recent data centre decisions

This strategic emphasis has been reflected in a series of high-profile planning decisions where the Secretary of State has recovered appeals and granted permission for large-scale data centres, even on green belt land. Three recent decisions illustrate the government’s evolving approach: Court Lane (December 2024), Abbots Langley (May 2025), and Woodlands Park (July 2025). In Court Lane, the Secretary of State approved a hyperscale data centre on green belt land, citing the demand and benefits of such infrastructure as outweighing the impact on the green belt. In Abbots Langley, following the introduction of the grey belt policy, a hyperscale data centre was approved on land deemed to fall within the grey belt. In Woodlands Park, the Planning Inspector granted permission for a data centre in the green belt based on there being Very Special Circumstances, but the Secretary of State went further when granting permission by also finding the site constituted grey belt showing the government's desire to use the new NPPF designation to support DC development.

All three developments were located in the London Availability Region, around Slough and Hemel Hempstead. This region is Europe’s largest data centre market, second globally only to North Virginia, USA. The decisions emphasised the need to maintain the UK’s competitive edge, warning that failure to approve these projects could result in investment shifting to rival markets such as Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Paris, and Dublin.

Each decision also highlighted the importance of clustering hyperscale data centres to ensure resilience and disaster recovery. Developers provided evidence on latency demands and fibre routing in demonstrating the necessity of siting the new data centres near to existing data centre infrastructure. In the Abbots Langley case, the developer conducted an alternative site analysis within an 8km radius to demonstrate the lack of viable alternatives—a step not required by law but influential in the final decision.

While these decisions cemented the government's political support for data centre development, they were heavily reliant on the specific characteristics of hyperscale data centres and the necessity to locate them within the London Availability Region to justify them being sited in green / grey belt land. That has led to the Woodlands Park decision being challenged in court by environmental campaigners, which will no doubt become the test case for whether the government's pro-development approach can be sustained. It also remains to be seen whether applications for data centres will succeed in other parts of the country or for smaller-scale facilities where there is not such a well-established urgent need for more capacity. Although developers outside the London region may face greater challenges in justifying development on protected land, hubs are emerging in the North East, Manchester and South Wales, due to lower land costs, availability of renewable energy and government interest in decentralising infrastructure. Wales hosts some large-scale facilities (namely in Newport) but has yet to develop specific planning frameworks for data centres. Scotland has shown support for data centres that use renewable energy.

Future changes

Several upcoming changes promise to further reshape the planning environment for data centres. The Planning and Infrastructure Bill 2025 proposes a major overhaul of the grid connection process. The current “first come, first served” model will be replaced with a “first ready, first connected” approach, prioritising projects that are technically and commercially ready. This reform is expected to reduce grid connection delays by several years, a critical improvement for data centre developers facing long lead times.

In June 2025, the government launched its AI Growth Zones (AIGZ) initiative, inviting applications from local authorities and industry stakeholders. These zones aim to fast-track planning and grid access for AI-related data centres and infrastructure, and two AIGZs have been designated so far – in Oxford and the North East. While the policy is still in its early stages (and the detail of how it will change planning rules is yet to be confirmed), it signals a clear intent to prioritise AI infrastructure. Given the different requirements of AI data centres from traditional cloud data centres, and the potentially greater flexibility in locating AI data centres, regional AIGZs should help promote the development of data centres away from London.

The government confirmed that large-scale data centres will be added to the list of Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project ^[1] meaning that they can be developed under a Development Consent Order. A DCO is a streamlined consent process under the Planning Act 2008, designed for major infrastructure projects. Unlike traditional planning permission, which is granted by local authorities, a DCO is determined by the Secretary of State following a public examination and enables an application for the compulsory acquisition of land to be 'wrapped up' in the consent. This route offers greater certainty and speed, particularly for complex or controversial projects. The legislation implementing the change is expected before the end of 2025, with a National Policy Statement setting out the criteria for DC proposals expected thereafter.

In August 2025, the House of Commons published a research briefing addressing data centre planning policy, sustainability and resilience. Looking ahead, the UK faces a steep rise in demand for capacity, and electricity consumption for data centres is expected to quadruple by 2030, highlighting the need for further planning reform, and also energy and water infrastructure upgrades as well as exploring on-site low-carbon generation and storage to reduce grid demands.

The net effect of these changes is a planning environment that should deliver quicker development of data centres across the country. Developers and investors will however need to keep a close eye on the changes as they are being implemented incrementally, meaning the rules could change during the course of a project. There are also going to be novel concepts, such as use of grey belt land and DCOs for data centres, which will be largely untested and need specialist expertise to navigate.

Our team

At Womble Bond Dickinson, we have extensive experience advising on DCOs and other infrastructure planning matters, particularly for power generation or energy intensive projects like data centres. If you are considering a data centre development—particularly one that may qualify as a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project—we would be pleased to discuss how a DCO could benefit your project and help you navigate the evolving planning landscape.

Sources

[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/proposed-reforms-to-the-national-planning-policy-framework-and-other-changes-to-the-planning-system/outcome/government-response-to-the-proposed-reforms-to-the-national-planning-policy-framework-and-other-changes-to-the-planning-system-consultation - See Government Response to Questions 64, 65 and 66.