Planning approval for the construction of data centres could be massively speeded up under new plans unveiled in the government’s AI Opportunities Action Plan.

The Plan, which was spearheaded by serial entrepreneur Matt Clifford, has called for the creation of a series of ‘AI Growth Zones’ dotted across the UK to attract clusters of AI expertise, in which normal planning processes would be overturned in favour of a fast-track approval system.

Under current rules it typically takes 5-7 years to complete the construction of a data centre in the UK, with cloud companies forced to navigate complex planning hurdles as well as difficulties in accessing sufficiently large energy supplies. Government officials have signalled that planning reform played a central role in the thinking behind the Action Plan.

The first zone identified under the Plan will be in Culham, Oxfordshire – home to the UK’s Atomic Energy Authority. In tandem with the plan, three major IT infrastructure companies – Vantage Data Centres, Nscale and Kyndryl – have committed to £14bn in investment into the UK to ramp up compute capacity to cater for the growing needs of AI.

Matt Taylor, partner and head of UK Proptech at Clifford Chance, told UKTN: “The vast increase in demand driven by AI is supplemented by continued growth in more traditional cloud applications, with hyperscalers competing for ever larger sites. Investors and developers are benefiting from this and seeking to secure sites, power and planning as early as possible, including through an increasing use of land-banking strategy”

“A more business-friendly approach to infrastructure planning could address current supply-side constraints, accelerating the development of data centres in the UK.”

The creation of AI Growth Zones is one of fifty policy proposals outlined by Clifford, which include:

• Increasing the public sector compute capacity by twentyfold, with work starting on a brand new supercomputer;
• A new team will be set up to seize the opportunities of AI and build the UK’s sovereign capabilities;
• Creating a new National Data Library to exploit public data in support of AI development; and
• A dedicated AI Energy Council chaired by the Science and Energy Secretaries, working with energy companies to understand the energy demands and challenges which will fuel AI’s development.

The government has claimed that, if fully realised, productivity gains from AI could be worth as much as £47bn per year to the UK economy.

Prime minister Sir Keir Starmer said: “The AI industry needs a government that is on their side, one that won’t sit back and let opportunities slip through its fingers. And in a world of fierce competition, we cannot stand by. We must move fast and take action to win the global race.”

The proposed planning overhaul follows a decision by the government in September to designate British data centres as ‘critical national infrastructure’ or CNI to encourage more of the sites to be built. The move, which is the first such designation in nearly a decade, places data centres on a par with water, energy and emergency services systems and will mean businesses sector can now expect greater government support in recovering from and anticipating critical incidents.

Dame Dawn Childs, CEO of British Data Centre business Pure DC, told UKTN: “There’s quite a long tail between application and delivery, and with the UK planning challenges that can be elongated. At the moment big tech might go and build the larger data centres elsewhere as it’s too difficult to do here.”

However, she cautioned: “It’s really important to us that local communities are taken into consideration and I do worry that under the CNI designation and under changes to our ability to force through planning, some of that engagement might not be as important to other data centre providers as it is to us.

“You might find that there is some pushback from local communities.”

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