British government caves on datacenter approval after legal challenge

The British government has conceded it should not have approved a campus near London's M25 orbital motorway and that the decision should be quashed, following a legal challenge by campaign group Foxglove.

The non-profit filed its challenge last year after the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government overturned Buckinghamshire Council's rejection of the Woodlands Park site near Iver. The local authority had blocked the project on grounds it would significantly alter the area's character and appearance.

The UK's former Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner decided to recover two planning appeals regarding server farms in 2024, one of which was the Woodlands Park project, in line with government policy that building the facilities would benefit the economy.

The actual decision to grant the appeal and allow planning permission was given in July last year by the Minister of State for Housing and Planning, Matthew Pennycook MP ...