Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what technical or planning criteria he will consider before granting a hyperscale data centre project a Development Consent Order via the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP) regime.

Any decision to grant a Development Consent Order will take into account matters raised at Examination, and the recommendation report of the Examining Authority.

As a business and commercial project, a data centre would first need to be directed into the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP) regime by the Secretary of State under section 35 of the Planning Act 2008 which sets out the legal tests which must be met in order for the Secretary of State to make such a direction. An application for a direction to be made under section 35 must demonstrate the proposed development complies with the criteria set out in the (then DCLG) Policy Statement of 4 November 2013, which can be found on here.

The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology will shortly issue a new National Policy Statement for data centres. This will set out the national policy for this sector and the policy framework for decision-making in respect of data centres.