The UK Government is set to determine the fate of a proposed 300MW data center in Buckinghamshire, an unusual move as planning decisions are generally handled by local authorities. This shift comes after the Secretary for Housing, Communities and Local Government (HCLG), Steve Reed, designated the project as a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP).
Under the NSIP designation, the project can bypass local council approval and instead apply for a development consent order (DCO) directly from the government. This classification was granted after a request from SDC Capital Partners, the investment firm behind the project, which is partnering with utilities company Veolia. The data center, called the "SDC M40 Campus", would be built on a Veolia-owned landfill site adjacent to the M40 motorway between Beaconsfield and Gerrards Cross.
If approved, the site would include three 100MW data center buildings, an on-site gas turbine "energy center", and additional auxiliary structures. Both the data center and the energy center components were recognized as eligible to be treated as NSIPs.
While the NSIP designation is a significant step forward, it does not guarantee approval for the project. The government will still need to evaluate the proposal and decide whether to grant the required DCO.
The decision to process data center projects as NSIPs follows recent regulatory changes. In January 2026, the Infrastructure Planning Regulations 2026 expanded the scope of the NSIP regime to include data centers, which were previously excluded from the framework that had traditionally focused on energy, transport, water, and waste projects.
This regulatory shift reflects growing recognition of the critical role data centers play in the UK's infrastructure. In September 2024, the government officially designated data centers as "Critical National Infrastructure", granting operators additional emergency support and aligning their status with other essential services like water and energy systems.
The UK Government has increasingly pushed through data center projects, even when local councils have raised objections. In December 2024, a 140MW data center in Buckinghamshire's Court Lane Industrial Estate was approved after a local council initially rejected it. Similar interventions occurred in 2025, with the government overturning local decisions to approve data centers in Abbots Langley, Hertfordshire, and Slough.
This trend underscores the government's commitment to fostering data center development as part of its infrastructure strategy, despite occasional missteps. Secretary Reed has acknowledged a "serious logical error" in granting planning permission for another data center in Buckinghamshire. Nevertheless, the government continues to actively intervene in such projects, including a 4MW data center proposal for the historic Truman Brewery site in London.
SDC Capital Partners, the investment firm spearheading the Buckinghamshire project, specializes in digital infrastructure. Founded in 2017 and headquartered in the United States, the company has made significant investments in data centers across the US, Europe, and Latin America. In November of last year, SDC Capital Partners acquired 97 acres of data center-zoned land in Virginia for $615 million, highlighting the firm's ambitious expansion in the sector.
As the UK Government deliberates on the approval of the 300MW Buckinghamshire data center, the decision will signal how far the country is willing to go in prioritizing data center development within its infrastructure agenda. With NSIP status granted, the outcome now rests in the hands of national authorities, bypassing the local council's traditional role in the process.
