Huge date centre plans next to M40 on green belt land

Mulberry Commercial Developments II Limited has applied for outline planning permission for the construction of the data centre.

The development would include ancillary offices, plant and cooling equipment and backup generators on land north of the M40 in Denham across the county border in Buckinghamshire.

In the application, the developer states that the site is designated as green belt.

However, it argues that the land should be considered to “comprise grey belt land” under the National Planning Policy Framework.

It is proposed that the data centre would comprise two buildings, one on each side of Denham Court Drive.

The heights are stepped to help reduce the perceived size of the development. The buildings would range from 12 metres to 18 metres in height, with the tallest sections being approximately the height of four double-decker buses.

The proposed development would be built on a site covering around 11.37 hectares which is currently used seasonally for the Giant Car Boot Sale.

The outline plans also include access roads, parking, landscaping, security gatehouses, drainage infrastructure and an electricity substation.

“It is envisaged that the proposed data centre would be developed in two parts with a smaller data centre building on the southern parcel and a larger data centre building and sub station on the northern parcel,” the application explained.

“There is a rapidly growing need for data storage and processing capacity that is being driven by the rapid growth in the use data in almost every aspect of human life eg. social, economic and governmental.

“The application proposals for additional data centre capacity would provide additional critical infrastructure. Its timely delivery is a matter of national importance as illustrated by the recent changes to the NPPF which seek to make it easier to deliver data centre developments.”