UK court green-lights challenge to mega data centre

A UK court has allowed a legal challenge to government approval of a 90-megawatt data centre near London, after campaigners Foxglove and Global Action Plan said ministers failed to properly consider its climate and electricity impacts. 

The project, approved in 2025 by the housing ministry after being rejected locally and backed by developer Greystoke Land, will now face a full court hearing later this year, in a case that could shape how energy-intensive AI infrastructure is approved in Britain.

The project is a 90-megawatt data centre in Buckinghamshire was approved by the UK government after the local authority had originally refused planning permission. The challenge is being brought by non-profit Foxglove and environmental charity Global Action Plan.

90MW is enormous in energy terms, especially for a single site. It is roughly equivalent to powering 60,000–70,000 UK homes continuously. Comparable to the entire electricity demand of a medium-sized town.

For context, a typical large supermarket uses ~1–2MW. A hospital might use ~5MW. This data centre = 15–20 hospitals running non-stop. So when planners approve a 90MW data centre, they’re effectively approving a new major power consumer that can stress local grids, increase fossil-fuel generation if renewables aren’t available. That’s why campaigners say you can’t treat it like a normal office building.

The groups argue that ministers failed to properly assess the climate impact, particularly the huge electricity demand needed to power and cool the servers, not just office-related energy use.

The case focuses on whether the government adequately considered climate change and energy consumption when approving the project. Greystoke Land, the developer, says the project was lawfully approved and opposed the legal challenge.

However, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) admitted in a letter to the court that the approval should be quashed, because it relied on climate mitigation measures that were never secured.

As a result, the High Court granted permission for the case to proceed, with a full hearing expected later in 2026. Campaigners say this is the first legal challenge to a hyperscale data centre in Britain.

The case comes amid a surge in global data centre development, driven by generative AI growth since ChatGPT’s release in 2022, which has sharply increased electricity demand.