NPPF 2024, NSIPs and Recovered Appeals

Numerous political tenures have promised meaningful planning reform, only for political will and ambition to fall away, or suffer from extensive ‘watering down’.

The publication of the updated NPPF results in one of the most transformative planning policy shifts in decades. Long being considered one of the single greatest barriers to growth and investment across the country, the planning system, at the national level, has been updated with a pro-growth mindset. The NPPF now significantly strengthens the importance of the economy and now requires local authorities to produce policies which pay particular regard to the modern economy. Data Centres are a key beneficiary of these policy updates, now benefiting from a long overdue recognition of their significant positive economic and technological impacts.

During the NPPF consultation stage, JLL published an overview and assessment of the then proposed policy changes (A policy revolution for UK Data Centres). We also commented on the overwhelming need for new supply over the next five years, estimated at 2.5GW. The lack of new supply has put at risk the ongoing digital transformation taking place across financial services, life sciences, healthcare, education among many other critical industries and services.

The updated NPPF, Ministerial Statements, an Industrial Strategy Green Paper, recovered appeals and forthcoming legislation, will together serve to significantly bolster delivery across the data centre sector.

The Ministerial Statement made on 12 December by the Minister for Housing and Planning, Matthew Pennycook MP, has confirmed that the Government will “follow through with prescribing data centres, gigafactories and laboratories as types of business or commercial development capable of being directed into the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects consenting regime, depending on the scale of the project”. This confirmatory statement is significant in the context of the wider consenting regime for data centre development, following hot on the heels of data centres being confirmed a Critical National Infrastructure (CNI). The NSIP route would certainly help remove much of the ambiguity experienced at the local decision-making level, whilst providing a clearer more logical approach to consenting at the Central Government level.

The details in respect to the applicable NSIP thresholds and scale of data centre that could constitute NSIP projects are yet to be confirmed. This detail will likely come through during the early part of next year. In addition, further detail is expected to allow for the expediting and simplification of the consenting process for major infrastructure projects, whilst enabling relevant, new, and improved National Policy Statements to come forward.

The NPPF now includes for specific references to data centre, notably through Paragraphs 86c) and 87 of the updated NPPF. Paragraph 86c) requires planning policies to “pay particular regard to facilitating development to meet the needs of a modern economy, including by identifying suitable locations for uses such as...data centres”. Paragraph 87 now sets out in much clearer terms than the previous NPPF what the government wants.  Planning policies and decisions are now required to “recognise and address the specific locational requirements of different sectors”, which includes data driven and high technology industries. The recognition in Paragraph 87 of the need to make provision for clusters or networks of knowledge and data driven high technology industries, together with the need for expanded or upgraded infrastructure to support growth, specifically referencing data centres and grid connections, are important changes.

Together, these updates require local policies and decisions to recognise the need for data centres and their specific locational requirements. The policies represent an enormous policy shift, creating a supportive policy position for the sector.

The NPPF includes for various fundamental and positive policy updates in respect to Green Belt, alongside the formal introduction of Grey Belt.

For plan-making, Paragraph 146 is helpful to define exceptional circumstances for proposed alterations to Green Belt boundaries. Specifically, this includes for instances where “an authority cannot meet its identified need for homes, commercial or other development through other means. If that is the case, authorities should review Green Belt boundaries in accordance with the policies in this Framework and propose alterations to meet these needs in full, unless the review provides clear evidence that doing so would fundamentally undermine the purposes (taken together) of the remaining Green Belt”. Paragraph 148 goes onto confirm that sequentially “where it is necessary to release Green Belt land for development, plans should give priority to previously developed land, then consider grey belt which is not previously developed, and then other Green Belt locations”.

For decision-taking, Paragraph 154(g) now confirms exceptions to inappropriate development on PDL in the Green Belt, as including those developments that “would not cause substantial harm to the openness of the Green Belt”. In respect to PDL, this policy now removes the severe limitation of not having a greater impact on the openness of the Green Belt than the existing development – as stated in the previous NPPF.

For Grey Belt, one of the most significant changes since the consultation version, is its revised definition. Grey Belt is now defined as “land in the Green Belt comprising previously developed land and/or any other land that, in either case, does not strongly contribute to any of purposes (a), (b), or (d) in paragraph 143…”. The updated definition specifically now excludes purposes c) and e), making the policy application of Grey Belt much more effective by removing the purpose relating to “safeguarding the countryside from encroachment”. If it had been retained, purpose c) could well have sterilised almost all Green Belt from being defined as Grey.

In essence, if it can be demonstrated that a development site falls within the definition of Grey Belt, fulfils an unmet need (for example for data centre), would not fundamentally undermine the purposes (taken together) of the remaining Green Belt across the area of the plan, and would be located in a sustainable location, it would not constitute inappropriate development (Paragraph 155). It would not therefore require the demonstration of very special circumstances. In effect, this results in a removal of a significant and longstanding policy hurdle to development on eligible sites.

The Secretary of State has allowed the recovered appeal by Affinius Capital for a 65,000sqm data centre in the Buckinghamshire Green Belt. This decision will provide a further ‘shot in the arm’ for the data centre sector, following years of seeking validity and legitimacy via UK planning. When considering whether very special circumstances exist, the Inspector’s Report (IR) identified a “clear lack of alternative sites available…to meet the demand for…data centres in the Slough and Hayes Availability Zones", going on to state that "failure to meet this need could have significant negative consequences for the UK digital economy”.

Helpfully, the Inspector confirmed that his recommendation was made despite only limited weight being attached to the then draft NPPF. The publication of the updated NPPF will serve to further reinforce the case for data centres in respect to future decisions and recovered appeals. This decision further strengthens the resolve of the data centre sector to pursue planning for schemes where a critical locational need can be demonstrated.

Recent pro-growth policy updates, and forthcoming legislative updates, will, together, reshape the planning policy context for data centre development in the context of plan-making and decision-taking. There exists now a policy platform that will no doubt create rapid growth of the sector in the UK and serve to conserve and enhance the UK’s position as a primary global player in cloud computing, AI and broader technology sectors. 

We’re set to see some of the most transformative data centre campus projects being delivered on the back of recent policy announcements. At long last, we’re in a place where the true economic and social value of data centres can be delivered.

JLL benefits from a wealth of experience in respect to Data Centres, offering a 'cradle to grave' service that includes site finding, site selection, planning, advisory, transactions, and facilities management. To discuss any of the matters discussed above or any other planning matter, please contact the team.