Greenbelt is no barrier for Angela Rayner as Iver data centre plans approved

Angela Rayner has pushed through plans for a sprawling ‘hyperscale’ data centre in Iver - and overruled a council’s decision to block it.

The deputy PM weighed in on developer Affinus Capital LLC’s appeal for a data centre at Court Lane Industrial Estate after Buckinghamshire Council denied it permission.

As the government tries to overhaul planning regulations, Mrs Rayner, the Secretary of State for Housing and Planning, has intervened on several appeals in the area.

She will decide the fate of another Iver data centre as well as two film studio plans.

Her decision notice on the Court Lane appeal said – despite causing harm to greenbelt – the plan was in an ‘optimal location’ with a ‘lack of clear alternatives’ in the Slough area.

Mrs Rayner found in favour of planning inspector Thomas Hatfield’s decision, following June’s public inquiry, that permission should be approved.

The notice said, ‘[Mrs Rayner] agrees with the inspector that failure to meet’ the need for more data centres ‘could have significant negative consequences for the UK digital economy’.

The Court Lane Industrial Estate site is located in greenbelt land in Iver, bordered by the Slough Arm of the Grand Union Canal, the M25 and a water treatment works.

Another view of the data centre site (photo: Google)

Most of the industrial estate is used as a recycling centre and a base for several heavy goods vehicle (HGV) transport companies.

Affinus’ plan is to transform the industrial estate into a ‘data centre farm’ housed in two multi-storey buildings up to 18m tall.

The company also planned to create 124 car parking spaces to accommodate the mix of more the 90 permanent workers onsite, as well as more than 150 other jobs.

Buckinghamshire Council refused the plans in 2023, citing harm to greenbelt land that planning officers considered was ‘not clearly outweighed’ by special circumstances.

Affinus Capital appealed the decision to the Planning Inspectorate in February this year – a government organisation that rules on planning appeals.

A inquiry was held in June, where inspector Mr Hatfield found in favour of the plans.

Mrs Rayner stepped in to ‘recover’ the appeal, giving her the final say – though her decision had to take into account a report by Mr Hatfield.

Her decision notice said the Court Lane plans were ‘inappropriate development in the greenbelt’; would cause ‘loss of openness’; and ‘some harm’ to it.

But it added, ‘despite its height and width’ the data centre’s effect on the appearance of the area would be ‘relatively limited and that any harm to the landscape would be minor’.

A listed farmhouse building on the development site was also considered in the appeal.

The decision notice said that although the 18m tall buildings would ‘dwarf’ the farmhouse, it was already ‘hemmed in’ by industrial buildings.

The notice cited ‘the need for new data centres’, ‘reduction in HGV movements [at Court Lane]’, ‘re-use of previously developed land’, and ‘investment and job creation’ as reasons for approval.

Plans for Court Lane Industrial Estate can be viewed on Buckinghamshire Council’s planning portal under reference: PL/22/4145/OA.