Mar 23, 2026 | Posted by Abdul-Rahman Oladimeji
The UK Government, rather than local planning authorities, will determine whether a proposed 300MW data center in Buckinghamshire receives planning permission.
While planning decisions in the UK are typically made by local councils, Secretary for Housing, Communities and Local Government Steve Reed ruled last Monday that the project qualifies as a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP).
This designation allows the project to apply for a development consent order (DCO), seeking planning approval directly from the secretary and bypassing the local council.
The proposed ‘SDC M40 Campus,’ backed by SDC Capital Partners and Veolia, would include three 100MW data center buildings, an energy center, and supporting facilities on a Veolia-owned site next to the M40 motorway between Beaconsfield and Gerrards Cross, currently used as a landfill.
The government has been considering allowing data centers to apply for a DCO since late 2024, as part of efforts to make the UK more attractive for data center development.
In September 2024, data centers were designated Critical National Infrastructure, giving operators additional support during emergencies and placing them on par with water, energy, and emergency services.
The government has frequently pushed data center projects forward, sometimes overruling local council decisions. In December 2024, former HCLG Secretary Angela Rayner overturned a council rejection to approve a 140MW project at Court Lane Industrial Estate in Buckinghamshire. In 2025, she did the same for two projects in Abbots Langley, Hertfordshire, and Slough.
Although Secretary Reed has admitted that it made a “serious logical error” when granting planning permission to another data center in Buckinghamshire, the current Secretary has also ‘called in’ a 4MW data center proposal on the site of the histori Truman Brewercy in London’s Brick Lane.
