Data centre planning trends
Data centres' share of UK planning applications in the year to September 2026 was 2.8 times that of three years earlier, close to March's high.
Data centre applications since 2016
Data centre applications in every 10,000 planning applications, over the 12 months to each month
How this is measuredA step up in 2025
Councils received 55 data centre applications in 2025, against 42 in 2024. The rise followed data centres being recognised as critical national infrastructure in September 2024 and a December 2024 planning framework that told councils to consider the need for them.
Q3 2026 against a year earlier
Councils received 12 data centre applications in Q3 2026, too few to compare their share with a year earlier.
Data centre applications each quarter
12 in Q3 2026, against 13 a year earlier.
Out of every 10,000 applications
As a share of every application: 1.2 in every 10,000 in Q3 2026, against 1.2 a year earlier.
Where data centre applications concentrate
Councils with the most
Applications since 2016
-
Slough
South East · 20 in every 10,000 27 -
Tower Hamlets
London · 12 in every 10,000 19 -
Leeds
Yorkshire and Humber · 2.0 in every 10,000 12 -
Sheffield
Yorkshire and Humber · 3.9 in every 10,000 11 -
West Northamptonshire
East Midlands · 2.5 in every 10,000 9 -
Hillingdon
London · 2.5 in every 10,000 8 -
Wiltshire
South West · 1.4 in every 10,000 8 -
City of Edinburgh
Scotland · 1.4 in every 10,000 7 -
Newport
Wales · 8.6 in every 10,000 7 -
Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation
London 7
Latest data centre applications
- Southside Data Centre Land At Clawbare Cottage Longformacus Scottish Borders Data centre development and associated infrastructure.
- Noon Folly Farm Bar Road Longstanton Cambridgeshire Full planning application for the construction of commercial units and data centre(s) (Use Class B2/B8 warehousing and distribution and advanced manufacturing, with ancillary Use Class E(g)(i) offices), community football pitch and changing rooms (Use Classes F2b/F2c), transport hub including all ancillary vehicle parking and service areas, access infrastructure (including new improved access from B1050 and dedicated emergency access to A1307), provision of landscaping, sustainable drainage systems, gate house, sprinkler tanks, pump houses, gas and electricity substations, energy centres and all associated engineering earth works (including demolition of existing buildings/structures and hardstanding).
- Former Sipson Garden Centre Sipson Road Sipson Outline planning application for the redevelopment of the former Sipson Garden Centre site to provide a data centre facility, including associated energy infrastructure, security measures, landscaping, and access arrangements (all matters reserved except for access). The proposed development is subject to an Environment Impact Assessment (Notice under Regulation 19 of the Town and Country Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2017).
- Land At Bank Quay Liverpool Road / Factory Lane, Warrington Proposed Development of a Temporary Modular Data Centre and associated Infrastructure
- Land West Of Ipswich Road Keswick Norfolk Construction of a data centre (Use Class B8) including ancillary office accommodation, associated infrastructure, substations, backup generators, access, parking, landscaping, sustainable drainage systems and associated works.
- Land North Of The Former Chapelcross Nuclear Power Station Near Annan Erection of data centre, training centre, industrial buildings, substation and associated infrastructure
How often are they refused?
Of 291 received 2016 to 2024 and decided, 3.1% were refused, below the 11.3% for all applications.
Refusal rate by year
Decisions, applications received 2016 to 2024
- Approved or refused291
- Refused3.1%
- Withdrawn before a decision24
- All applications11.3% refused
Questions
How many data centre planning applications are there in the UK?
Councils have received 439 since January 2016, 60 of them in the 12 months to September 2026. Their share peaked in the 12 months to March 2026.
Where are the most data centres being proposed?
Slough, Tower Hamlets and Leeds have received the most since 2016.
How often are data centre applications refused?
Of 291 received 2016 to 2024 and decided, 3.1% were refused, below the 11.3% for all applications.
How many data centres are there in the UK?
The Data Centre Alliance, citing a House of Commons Library briefing, put the number operating in the UK at around 450 in 2024. These figures count planning applications, so they measure proposals rather than buildings.
About Plota
Plota is the UK's most visited planning search, according to Similarweb. It shows every new planning application from every UK council, read daily from 390 planning registers, with past applications back to 2016 from more than 420 registers, including those of councils since merged. It also covers planning committee decisions, HMO licences and premises licences.
How this is measured
What needs an application
Since November 2025, a developer can ask for a data centre to be decided nationally as an infrastructure project rather than by a council.
Methodology
- What is counted: planning applications to UK councils whose description names data centres or a close variant of the words, by the date each council received them. These are planning applications, not completed schemes; the largest energy and infrastructure projects are consented nationally rather than by councils, so they sit outside these counts.
- How matches are checked: we read the 200 most recent data centre applications and 20 from every year since 2016 to confirm each one belongs.
- Topic counts leave out, by design, works to trees and applications that only discharge conditions, amend an earlier permission or approve reserved matters, which follow a scheme already counted. Everything else is counted.
- A share is the number out of every 10,000 applications over the previous 12 months. Each topic is a number in every 10,000 planning applications, so trends compare when overall planning activity changes; the share still moves when either the topic's count or the total does. This topic has no planning index: councils received fewer than 20 in 2016, too few to measure change against.
- Source: the planning registers of every UK council, January 2016 to September 2026, read on 9 November 2026.
- Planning is seasonal, so each quarter is compared with the same quarter a year earlier.
- Year on year: each topic's and theme's share of all applications in Q3 2026, against Q3 2025, at every council we hold. A share is the number in every 10,000 applications. Shares compare across councils and years; raw counts do not.
- Left out of the topic shares: Birmingham's applications from June to September 2026: a validation backlog at the council since June 2026: of 685 reference numbers it issued in September, its register lists 288. The same months a year earlier are left out too, so every comparison covers the same councils.
- Refusals: applications received 2016 to 2024 and decided, at councils whose published decisions pass our checks against their decision notices. Approvals and refusals count; withdrawals do not. "All applications" means every decision of that kind at the same councils over the same years. Applications received from 2025 are added once most are decided.
- Download the data (CSV): every topic and theme, each quarter since 2016.
Sources
- Data centres were recognised as critical national infrastructure in September 2024, and the December 2024 revision of the National Planning Policy Framework told local authorities to consider the need for data centres. dcauk.org
- Around 450 data centres operated in the UK in 2024, a figure from House of Commons Library briefing CBP-10315 as summarised by the Data Centre Alliance. dcauk.org
- Parliament approved regulations in November 2025 letting a developer request that a data centre be consented as a nationally significant infrastructure project. pinsentmasons.com