The UK just gave Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIPs) the right to bypass pre-application consultation with local council planning processes, meaning the green light will come directly from the national government. According to The Register, NSIPs are major projects that the state considers to be nationally important, like power plants and railways. Data centers were included in this list earlier this year, meaning these developments could now get approval directly from the national government instead of going through hoops in local councils. Still, this is an opt-in process requiring developers to apply for the status.
"Datacenters are not automatically consented as NSIPs; instead, the NSIP regime operates on an opt‑in basis for developers,” the law firm Womble Bond Dickinson told the publication. “A datacenter project may be directed into the NSIP regime where the Secretary of State considers it to be of national significance and satisfied that the statutory tests under section 35 of the Planning Act 2008 are met.” However, it also said that there are no clear guidelines yet from the government on what would make a data center qualify for NSIP status.
