Angela Rayner facing legal action over 'rash decision' to approve Iver data centre

The fight over sweeping plans for a new data centre in Iver looks set to be thrashed out in court after campaigners launched legal action against the Government.  

Deputy prime minister Angela Rayner overruled Buckinghamshire Council to approve the data centre, planned for greenbelt land at Woodlands Park next to the M25, in July this year.

But Foxglove UK and Global Action Plan have said the ‘rash decision’ to greenlight the data centre – ‘a power guzzling behemoth’ – had been made without a proper environmental review.  

Global Action Plan head of campaigns Oliver Hayes said, ‘the deputy prime minister’s lack of meaningful scrutiny’ of the plans has ‘serious consequences for people in Buckinghamshire’.

Foxglove co-executive director Rosa Curling said the Government had ‘bafflingly’ approved the Iver data centre and ‘not even bothered to do its own environmental assessment’.

She added: “That’s not good enough and we are happy to see them in court to fix it.”

Developer Greystoke first saw its plans for a hyperscale data centre at former landfill site Woodlands Park refused by Buckinghamshire Council in 2021.

Hyperscale data centres are the largest facilities of their kind. They are capable of storing and processing enormous amounts of computing information.

A 2024 bid for Woodlands Park, dubbed the ‘West London Technology Park’, was ‘called in’ by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to give Angela Rayner the final say. 

Mrs Rayner’s decision notice said that, while the data centre ‘would materially alter’ the area’s character, the ‘planning balance’ weighed in favour of approval.

Foxglove UK, a not-for-profit technology campaign group, and Global Action Plan, an environmental advocacy charity, have now challenged that decision.

The group's legal campaign claims approving the Woodlands Park data centre without a proper environmental impact assessment sends a ‘worrying signal’.

Mr Haynes said: “The Deputy Prime Minister’s lack of meaningful scrutiny of this application has serious consequences for people in Buckinghamshire and sends a worrying signal to communities across the country that more and bigger data centres are inevitable.”

He added: “The government must reconsider its rash decision or risk an embarrassing reality check in court.” 

There are further questions about how the centre would place pressure on an electrical substation near the site.

Ms Curling said: "Angela Rayner appears to either not know the difference between a power station that actually produces energy and a substation that just links you to the grid – or simply not care.  

“Either way, thanks to her decision, local people and businesses in Buckinghamshire will soon be competing with a power guzzling-behemoth to keep the lights on, which as we’ve seen in the States, usually means sky-high prices.” 

A spokesperson for Greystoke said the West London Technology Park ‘vital national need for digital infrastructure, and will bring over £1 billion of investment’.

The spokesperson added: “The data centre campus incorporates measures which benefit the environment, including appropriate building standards, solar panels and heat pumps.”

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government did not respond to a request for comment.