The UK government has opened a consultation to update the country’s national planning policy, including around the development of data centers.

First reported by ComputerWeekly, the UK Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government is seeking views on proposed reforms to the National Planning Policy Framework alongside other changes to the planning system.

The government said it is looking to collect views on proposed changes that it hopes will help “achieve sustainable growth,” as well as feedback on policy proposals around increasing planning fees, local plan intervention criteria, and thresholds for certain Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIPs).

The consultation closes on September 24.

With regards to data centers, the proposals would reform the way that the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects regime applies to onshore wind, solar, data centers, laboratories, gigafactories, and water projects.

NSIPs aim to speed up planning consent for large projects, with proposals going to the relevant secretary of state for a decision instead of local councils.

“The proposed changes... seek to ensure the planning system meets the needs of a modern and changing economy, by making it easier to build laboratories, gigafactories, data centers, and digital infrastructure, and the facilities needed to support the wider supply chain,” the consultation said, and “giving more explicit recognition of the need to support proposals for new or upgraded facilities and infrastructure (including data centers and electricity network grid connections) that are key to the growth of these industries.”

The consultation also wants to test whether the government should go further by enabling digital infrastructure projects to opt into the NSIP regime. It also aims to make it easier to develop on brownfield land, as well as open up more Green Belt land for development – especially previously developed Green Belt sites.

Richard Ford, planning law expert at Pinsent Masons, said: “One of the most striking proposed reforms is the move towards a “technicolor green belt,” with different rules for brownfield green belt, the new 'grey' belt, and the more traditional green belt. The detail around the changes is significant with a requirement for green belt to be reviewed if housing needs are not being met, a sequential approach to green belt release. Prioritizing brownfield and grey belt and a viability-led approach to the benefits that must be realized for grey belt to be released."

Ahead of winning a majority in the UK’s recent General Election last month, the Labour Party had pledged to reform the UK’s planning system, including making it easier for data center developments to get the green light and opening more Green Belt land outside London for development.

Less than a month after coming into office, Chancellor Rachel Reeves said she would review two previously rejected data center proposals outside London.

Greystoke had previously proposed two large campuses on Green Belt land in Iver, Buckinghamshire, and Abbots Langley, Herefordshire. Both were rejected by their respective local councils, with one also rejected by the then-Conservative Government’s secretary of state, Michael Gove.