The Secretary of State had previously granted permission for a 65,000sqm facility on a site at Court Lane, Iver (Buckinghamshire), one of three appeals relating to hyperscale data centres which she recovered for her own determination, following the accession of the Labour Government last July.

This, the second of the three appeals, concerned a proposal to deliver 84,000sqm hyperscale data centre on a largely greenfield site at Bedmond Road just south of the M25 motorway. The consented facility will comprise two separate data centre halls, of up to 20m in height, and provide up to 96 MW of capacity. The scheme represents a capital investment of around £1billion.

The Secretary of State concluded that the development would contribute towards meeting the very significant level of demand for data centre provision in the Hemel Hempstead Availability Zone. She further concluded that that there is a clear and pressing need for such provision in the London Availability Region, of which the Hemel Hempstead Zone forms a part.

A public inquiry was held for two weeks during October 2024 to consider the appeal, which the Council contested on grounds of landscape & visual harm and adverse impacts on the Green Belt. The Council also disputed the Appellant’s need case, and in consequence the Inspector’s report contains in-depth analysis of cloud data centre need.

Whilst recognising that the proposed development would result in significant landscape & visual harm, and also some harm to both designated and non-designated heritage assets, the Secretary of State determined to grant permission. In this regard, she attributed significant weight to the need for data centre provision, the lack of available alternative sites, and the scale of the investment proposed, together with the economic and employment benefits it would deliver.

Further, the Secretary of State concluded that the development was in accordance with the development plan as a whole, and that the proposed data centre site should be regarded as Grey Belt land. Having regard to Grey Belt policy in the NPPF, in particular the tests set out at Paragraph 155 NPPF, she concluded that the data centre should not be regarded as inappropriate development, such that it was not necessary for the Appellant to demonstrate that Very Special Circumstances existed to justify the grant of permission.

Alexander Booth KC, instructed by Pegasus Planning, appeared for the successful Appellant, Greystoke Land Ltd.

Annabel Graham Paul appeared on behalf of Three Rivers District Council.