Angela Rayner approved a 90MW hyperscale datacentre on green belt land by the M25 in Buckinghamshire after overruling a local council. Campaign groups Foxglove and Global Action Plan have launched a legal challenge alleging no environmental impact assessment was carried out. The facility is presented as part of plans to treble UK computing capacity for AI, but critics warn of increased local electricity prices, harm to air quality, damage to habitats and harm to green belt character. Buckinghamshire council had previously refused permission citing inappropriate development, visual and ecological harms, and locals recommended brownfield alternatives.
The deputy prime minister, Angela Rayner, has been hit with a legal challenge after she overruled a local council to approve a hyperscale datacentre on green belt land by the M25 in Buckinghamshire. Campaigners bringing the action are complaining that no environmental impact assessment was made for the 90MW datacentre, which was approved as part of the Labour government's push to turn the UK into an AI powerhouse
Last June, Buckinghamshire council refused planning permission for the facility in Iver on what was once a landfill site, saying it would constitute inappropriate development in the green belt and would harm the appearance of the area, air quality and habitats of protected species. Local objectors said the two buildings rising to 18 metres would dwarf the area and would be an eyesore for ramblers, and that there were more appropriate brownfield sites.
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