The U.K. government is facing legal action from campaigners after overriding Buckinghamshire’s decision to block construction of a 90-megawatt data center on protected green belt land. The local authority had twice rejected the project, most recently in June 2024, calling it “inappropriate” for the area.
Government Overrules Council
Despite those rejections, Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner granted approval for the facility last month, part of the Labour government’s push to expand computing power and strengthen Britain’s role as a global AI hub. The move comes amid surging demand for data centers, which power artificial intelligence and cloud computing but also raise environmental concerns due to their massive energy and water requirements.
On Thursday, advocacy groups Foxglove and Global Action Plan announced they had filed a statutory review, asking the courts to quash Rayner’s decision. In their statement, they accused the government of disregarding local interests and downplaying the project’s impact on power supplies.
“Angela Rayner appears to either not know the difference between a power station that actually produces energy and a substation that just links you to the grid — or simply not care,” said Rosa Curling, co-executive director of Foxglove.
The groups warned that the center would force households and small businesses in Buckinghamshire to compete for electricity with an energy-hungry facility, driving up prices.
Wider Policy Context
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government declined to comment on the legal action. However, officials have previously argued that large-scale data center projects are essential if the U.K. is to compete in the global AI race.
The legal challenge comes months after Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced efforts to curb repeated appeals from so-called “Nimbys” against major infrastructure developments. Critics argue that this approach weakens local voices in planning disputes.
What The Author Thinks
The clash over Buckinghamshire’s data center highlights the tension between national ambitions and local priorities. Britain wants to be a leader in artificial intelligence, but fast-tracking massive projects without community buy-in risks eroding trust in government. Data centers may be critical for the future, but bulldozing them through at the expense of local concerns could deepen public resistance to other infrastructure the country will need. Balancing speed with accountability is the only way to make these projects sustainable in the long run.
Featured image credit: CommScope via Flickr
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