UK government overrules local council’s datacenter refusal on Green Belt land

https://www.theregister.com/AMP/2025/05/16/uk_overrules_local_council_approve_datacenter/

by insomnimax_99

22 comments

  1. great news, it’s just moronic that so many people are trying to stop this county developing, there is always some idiotic MP or council that are too scared to develop this nation

  2. I’d suggest the reason the council is challenging this is because they can’t actually get access to their own data, and are in the shit.

    Planning databases are always Oracle and always horrendously outdated, and councils often have to hire a consultant just to come in a write the views necessary. You’d think it would be simple, but got to remember a lot of these databases were created at a time when reporting on green belt wasn’t even on the radar, planning is always absolute bottom of the pile for LAs. They just want to save face that’s all.

  3. How come Siri or Alexa can live on the green belt but people cannot?

  4. As much as I think there are too many Nimbys stopping progress and development, we do have a problem with lack of nature and wildlife in this country. Building in green belt land is just making our country more desolate.

    Farmland is best because it’s already stripped of nature and a lot of it is just used by rich people as a way to store wealth and avoid inheritance tax.

  5. These things are noisy as hell, I can’t blame anyone voting against it. It’s a constant non stop drone, you start to feel sick when you’re around it. I feel sorry for anyone that’s close by.

  6. Good. These people have no right to moan about cost of living and employer’s NI then stymie any growth at the same time.

  7. I did recently hear that under some recent changed govt was going to be able to make decisions like this to get things done like new power pines and do on. I wonder if this is part of that.

  8. Labour’s destruction of the green belt will not go unpunished

  9. Local councils are stopping the UK keeping up with the rest of the world ..but more brown belt should be getting used up

  10. I would agree with the Government overruling the local Council on this issue if the Government nationalised Water in the UK.

    Data Centres require huge amounts of water. This Data Centre will be pulling huge amounts of water from the local community to cool the servers down. Especially those Data Centres which support AI which Starmer is pushing. The British people are getting shafted year on year by Water Companies bumping up prices so they can pay CEO’s who do sod all a £1million+ bonus. They’re not mega talented geniuses otherwise there would be no pollution or discharge incidents on their watch. In Europe it is different and most EU nations have nationally operated water and much cheaper prices.

    We’re the only idiots being told “Oh it’s been Sunny for a few weeks in wet and windy Britain, so there may be a drought or hosepipe ban”. It’s due to mismanagement by private water companies. I say that again – PRIVATE – water companies.

    Stop the leaks. Stop the unnecessary emergency road works. Stop the pollution and discharges into rivers and seas. Invest in treatment plants and reservoirs. Nationalise the lot, do it properly at a cheaper price with all profits going to the British Taxpayer and reducing Tax/NI and I’d be happy for a Data Centre to go anywhere in the UK.

  11. I thought the Register was British so why are they spelling it datacenter? Also, the developer is called Greystoke, which reminds me of Tarzan.

  12. Why can’t they use brown belt? Or knock down some dilapidated unsafe listed buildings that are never going to get fixed? Why take away an area that is enjoyed by local people

  13. Great news and I hope this sets a nice precedent to other NIMBY councils.

  15. Not all green belt land is pristine countryside. Some areas include degraded sites like old petrol stations, car parks, or wasteland. On top of that, the Metropolitan Green Belt around London could accommodate a million homes within 800 metres of train stations. The policy prioritises preservation over housing needs; it’s very good for driving up property prices.

  16. Why not just sell them ex-HMP Northeye for a staggering amount of money so the taxpayer gets their money back?

  17. there is plenty of space in the centre of london, build it there.

  18. Tragic. Some in this government know the price of everything and the value of nothing.

    We are one of the most-nature deprived countries and some in this government would be happy to concrete over everything for the sake of economic growth

  20. This is sadly going to become more common with Labour’s mega councils. They’ll just keep ruining any villages or countryside because it doesn’t affect those in power in the big cities.  

    I’m no NIMBY, but this is just destroying any point of even having a local council. They’re already struggling to deliver statutory services due to chronic underfunding. Now they can’t even make decisions for the benefit of their constituents. 

  21. based sir kier

    The United CyberKingdom must prosper

  22. AI bros have everyone convinced they’re the future, so they get to do whatever they want.

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