Data-center law in United Kingdom

Planning Act 2008, c. 29, s. 35

Effective 2010-03-01 · Applies to government

Section 35 lets the Secretary of State direct that development is to be treated as development for which development consent is required under the Planning Act 2008's nationally significant infrastructure projects regime, taking it out of the ordinary local planning permission system.

A direction can be given for a business or commercial project of a prescribed description, in addition to energy, transport, water, waste water and waste projects, where the development will be wholly in England or adjacent waters and the Secretary of State thinks the project is of national significance, either alone or together with other projects of the same kind.

Since this mechanism, rather than a fixed statutory list, is how a data-centre project can be brought into the nationally significant infrastructure projects regime, it is recorded here as a duty on government rather than as a standing obligation on a data-centre developer.

Source: Full text of law

Town and Country Planning Act 1990, c. 8, s. 57(1), (1A)

Applies to both

Section 57(1) requires planning permission for the carrying out of any development of land, which is the general basis on which a data-centre building or extension needs local planning permission. Section 57(1A) makes that requirement subject to section 33(1) of the Planning Act 2008, which excludes the need for planning permission where development consent under the separate nationally significant infrastructure projects regime is instead required for the same development.

Source: Full text of law

The Town and Country Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2017, SI 2017/571, reg. 5

Applies to both

Regulation 5 requires that where a relevant planning authority or the Secretary of State has to decide, under these Regulations, whether Schedule 2 development is EIA development requiring an environmental statement, that decision (a screening opinion by the authority, or a screening direction by the Secretary of State) must take into account any information provided by the applicant and the relevant selection criteria in Schedule 3 to the Regulations, and must state the main reasons for the conclusion reached.

Whether a specific data-centre project falls within Schedule 2 development, and so needs a screening decision at all, depends on which Schedule 2 category and threshold it meets, which is not described here.

Source: Full text of law

Electricity Act 1989, c. 29, s. 16(1), (2A), as amended by Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025, c. 34, s. 18(3)(a)

Effective 2001-10-01 · Applies to private

Section 16(1) puts an electricity distributor under a duty to make a connection between its distribution system and any premises, or another distributor's system, on request from the owner or occupier or an authorised supplier or distributor, for the purpose of conveying electricity to or from that premises or system.

Subsection (2A), inserted by the Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025, requires the distributor, in deciding how to comply with that duty and in particular how to prioritise persons requiring a connection, including a large load such as a data centre, to have regard to designated strategic plans; those plans are the ones designated under section 165A(2) of the Energy Act 2023, which concerns the functions of the Independent System Operator and Planner over network connections.

Source: Full text of law