Data centres on London green belt

Khan paves way for data centres on green belt

Sir Sadiq Khan has cleared the way for more data centres to be built on the green belt, loosening restrictions on the facilities in London’s protected zones.

Draft plans for development in the capital reveal proposals to encourage more data centres on so-called “grey belt” land, despite a growing backlash against new technology infrastructure as soaring demand for AI leads to a building boom.

The grey belt refers to areas of the green belt that are seen as ripe for development and that would not contribute to urban sprawl.

The Greater London Authority’s draft London Plan, published this month, exempts data centres from rules designed to prevent excessive green-belt development.

Experts described the new policy as “permissive” while green belt campaigners said it risked a “dangerous precedent”.

A string of “hyperscale” data centres has been built or proposed on London’s green belt in recent years, with developers saying there are limited places where the large facilities can go. In many cases they have been supported by the Government, with ministers pushing through the plans over local objections.

The London Plan would apply to boroughs within the Greater London Authority, rather than the counties bordering the capital.

Giles Pink, a planning lawyer at Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner, said the new proposals were “quite permissive ... They have a bit more privilege in this emerging policy”.

Oliver Gough, of the infrastructure consultancy Copper, said it gave data centres a route to development “available to no other major land use”.

However, Andrew Rosindell, the Reform MP for Romford who has been campaigning against a sprawling data centre campus in east London, warned that the proposals “risk setting a dangerous precedent by making it easier to build large-scale data centres on green-belt land”.

Mr Rosindell said he was not “opposed to data centres given their rapidly growing importance”, but said they “should not come at the expense of the countryside that local communities value”.

Development on the green belt around London is typically restricted to growth areas close to public transport links, where new houses can be constructed.

However, the Mayor of London’s plan gives data centres an exemption, because unlike other industrial sites they only generate small amounts of traffic once complete. Sir Sadiq’s draft plan describes the facilities as the “only exception”.

The plans would also subject data centres to new requirements about how they use water and electricity, making it more difficult to build them on industrial land.

Previously, the facilities were assessed in the same way as factories or warehouses. Now, they must show that they are using renewable energy, limiting their use of water and exploring options to use excess heat to warm up homes.

A spokesman for Sir Sadiq said: “The Mayor’s ambition is clear: for London to become the world’s leading city for environmentally friendly, low-emission, high-efficiency data centre development.

“The energy requirements of data centres are colossal, so delivering their expansion at pace alongside London’s other infrastructure needs will require more coordinated planning.

“To address the challenge, the Mayor has committed to delivering a whole-city partnership approach by bringing together boroughs, energy providers, innovative companies, developers and universities.”