"The British government has conceded it should not have approved a campus near London's M25 orbital motorway and that the decision should be quashed, following a legal challenge by campaign group Foxglove. The non-profit filed its challenge last year after the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government overturned Buckinghamshire Council's rejection of the Woodlands Park site near Iver. The local authority had blocked the project on grounds it would significantly alter the area's character and appearance."
"The UK's former Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner decided to recover two planning appeals regarding server farms in 2024, one of which was the Woodlands Park project, in line with government policy that building the facilities would benefit the economy. The actual decision to grant the appeal and allow planning permission was given in July last year by the Minister of State for Housing and Planning, Matthew Pennycook MP, on behalf of the Secretary of State."
""It shouldn't take us having to drag the government to court for them to admit their decision to back Big Tech's polluting datacenters was fundamentally wrong," said Foxglove co-executive director Rosa Curling. The Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government confirmed the U-turn and told The Register it would not be appropriate to comment further as the case is still subject to live litigation."
The government has conceded that approval of a datacentre campus near London's M25 should be quashed after a legal challenge by campaign group Foxglove. The non-profit challenged the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government's decision to overturn Buckinghamshire Council's earlier rejection of the Woodlands Park site near Iver, which had been blocked for altering the area's character. In 2024 the government recovered two server farm planning appeals including Woodlands Park, and a July decision granted permission under Minister Matthew Pennycook. Officials now accept the decision must be quashed because there were insufficient measures to secure environmental impact commitments. Greystoke Land Ltd declined to comment.
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