Datacenter builds could be shielded from judicial review in UK planning reforms

The UK government may move to forestall objections to datacenter projects via an overhaul of planning regulations that would shield critical energy and infrastructure buildouts from legal challenges. Finance minister, Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves, is preparing to unveil reforms allowing Parliament to designate key projects as having critical national importance to prevent them from being subject to judicial review. "For too long, vital infrastructure delivery has been delayed by judicial reviews of projects," a spokesperson for HM Treasury said in a statement. The Chancellor "is clear that Parliament must take back control to get Britain building the power plants, wind farms and grid connections that will bring bills down, strengthen our energy security, and deliver growth in every part of our country." This does not explicitly mention datacenters, but as The Register has reported previously, massive server farms have already been lumped in with energy generation as projects to be urgently fast-tracked by government. Back in 2024, server farms were given Critical National Infrastructure (CNI) designation - a move that a government a civil servant warned would allow the authorities to override opposition to datacenter sites by local residents. Last year, a datacenter project management biz urged the government go a step further and categorize large datacenter developments as Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIPs). This would shift decision-making from local authorities to the national level, potentially expediting approvals for large projects, while removing any say that local residents may have in developments that affect them. Parliament's Public Accounts Committee also published a report last year on Treasury plans to implement stronger governance to speed large infrastructure schemes, criticizing it for not including technically complex" projects such as those involving digital transformation and artificial intelligence (AI)," despite the government's focus on these to deliver economic growth. Some are already welcoming the planning reforms before they have even been officially announced. Today's announcement is the right thing to do if we are serious about growth, energy security and getting Britain building again," said Ben Brittain, director of public affairs at the Association for Consultancy and Engineering (ACE). For too long, critical infrastructure projects have been delayed by blockers, layers of uncertainty and lengthy legal challenge, driving up costs and holding back investment." But the government should be wary, as public sentiment is turning against the growing number of datacenters being built and the AI technology that is driving their construction. Putting them beyond the reach of any legal challenge could easily exacerbate this. In America, for example, a recent survey found that people would sooner see a nuclear power plant sited in their locality than a datacenter. Gunshots were also fired at the home of an Indianapolis councilor who backed plans for a server farm in his area. In the UK, there have been protests against various datacenter building projects. Activist group Global Action Plan organized several at the end of February at sites including Iver in Buckinghamshire and Potters Bar in Hertfordshire where recently announced campuses are being constructed. HM Treasury had not responded to our requests for further information at the time of publication. (R)