Government Statement published on Recognising Data Centres as Nationally Significant Infrastructure
The Government has accepted techUK's call for data centres to be given the ability to 'opt-in' to the NSIP regime.
On 15 October 2025, the Minister of State for Housing and Planning, Matthew Pennycook MP, laid before Parliament the draft amendment to the Infrastructure Planning (Business or Commercial Projects) Regulations 2013. This amendment proposes to formally recognise data centres as eligible for consideration under the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIP) consenting regime, under Section 35 of the Planning Act 2008.
Under this proposal, developers may make a request to the Secretary of State for their data centre projects to be directed into the NSIP process, provided the Secretary of State considers the project to be of national significance and in compliance with statutory criteria. This will be an ‘opt-in’ process, meaning developers can choose to apply for NSIP status rather than being automatically included.
To support this change, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) will develop a National Policy Statement (NPS) for data centres. This will set out the national policy framework, including thresholds, parameters, and other relevant factors thresholds to guide NSIP eligibility and approvals.
If approved by Parliament, the new regulations are expected to come into force later this year or early next.
Why this matters
Amendments to the Bill will offer a more efficient and nationally coordinated route for the delivery of strategic data centre infrastructure. Inclusion of data centres in the NSIP regime will support their timely construction, enabling the delivery of infrastructure that underpins a vast range of technologies and essential functions of modern life, from advanced AI workloads to everyday business IT systems like CRM platforms.
Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIPs) are large-scale infrastructure projects - such as those in energy, transport, water, and waste - that are considered vital to the UK’s national interest. These projects go through a dedicated planning process under the Planning Act 2008, which streamlines approval by replacing multiple consents with a single Development Consent Order (DCO).
Applications for DCOs are submitted to the Planning Inspectorate. Final decisions are made by the relevant Secretary of State, rather than local planning authorities.
The upcoming Infrastructure and Planning Bill will further strengthen the NSIP regime by simplifying consultation requirements and reducing the number of legal challenge that can be made (from three to one), helping to accelerate project delivery timelines.
techUK’s position
techUK has consistently advocated for data centres to be recognised as NSIPs, while emphasising the importance of developers retaining a choice about whether to use the NSIP route or not. We therefore welcome the government’s proposed amendments, which reflect this position.
We will continue to work closely with our members to understand which types of projects may be eligible and how best to engage with the new process.
Data Centres Programme activities
techUK provides a collective voice for UK Data Centre operators working with government to improve the business environment for our members. We keep members up to date with the key technical and regulatory developments that may impact growth and on funding opportunities that may increase commercial competitiveness. Visit the programme page here.
techUK Report: Understanding data centre water use in England
Read our latest report exploring water usage in cooling Data Centres across England
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Luisa C. Cardani is the Head of the Data Centres Programme at techUK, aiming to provide a collective voice for UK operators and working with government to improve business environment for the data centres sector.
Prior to joining techUK, Luisa worked in the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport as the Head of International Data Protection, where she led on the development of elements of the UK's data protection and privacy policy. In her role, she was also the UK official representative for the EOCD Privacy Guidelines Informal Advisory Group.
She has held a number of position in government, including leading on cross-cutting data provisions in the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement, and in high priority cross-departmental projects when working in the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.
She holds an M.Sc. from University College London's Department of Political Sciences.
Programme Assistant, Data Centres, Climate, Environment and Sustainability, Market Access, techUK
Lucas Banach
Programme Assistant, Data Centres, Climate, Environment and Sustainability, Market Access, techUK
Lucas Banach is Programme Assistant at techUK, he works on a range of programmes including Data Centres; Climate, Environment & Sustainability; Market Access and Smart Infrastructure and Systems.
Before that Lucas who joined in 2008, held various roles in our organisation, which included his role as Office Executive, Groups and Concept Viability Administrator, and most recently he worked as Programme Executive for Public Sector. He has a postgraduate degree in International Relations from the Andrzej Frycz-Modrzewski Cracow University.