The developer of a planned ‘hyperscale’ data centre has accepted that it must be subject to binding environmental conditions, following legal action by tech justice non-profit Foxglove and environment charity Global Action Plan, three months after the UK Government conceded the case.

Developer Greystoke is seeking to build a 90-megawatt (MW) data centre at Woodlands, Buckinghamshire. The proposal was initially rejected by the local authority, before being ‘called in’ by the Government which overturned the council’s decision in July 2025.

Foxglove and Global Action Plan challenged the Government’s decision arguing it was unlawful, for failing to properly consider the energy use and environmental impact of the planned facility.

In January this year, the Government admitted that it had made a “serious logical error” in giving the go-ahead to the project and forcing it through against the wishes of the local council, conceding the case.

However, Greystoke continued to contest the case, until accepting last week that measures to mitigate environmental impact would need to be made binding via a contract with the council.

This concession establishes the precedent that data centre developers’ claims on measures to protect the environment must be concrete and enforceable. Data centre developers routinely claim that their facilities will be ‘green’ or run on ‘low carbon energy’ without putting in place any real commitments to ensure this is the case. Global Action Plan and Foxglove will continue to raise this point with other developers, in light of the outcome in this case.

Foxglove and Global Action Plan are calling on the UK Government to establish policies to ensure that all new, large-scale data centres do not harm the environment. Together with other NGOs, they called on the Government in February to put in place:

• A framework to consider the cumulative environmental impacts of the rollout of data centres, in order to meaningfully assess whether new ‘hyperscale’ data centres can be built and operate within existing carbon budgets; and without exacerbating local water scarcity.
• A mandatory requirement for every data centre developer to undertake a full Environmental Impact Assessment for their proposed facility.
• A requirement for any data centre developer to demonstrate that its facility will not cause an increase in the UK’s overall climate emissions or local water scarcity.

Oliver Hayes, Head of Campaigns at Global Action Plan said:

“It’s great to see both the UK Government and developer in this case recognise that it’s not enough to throw weak environmental commitments around and hope for the best when it comes to energy-hungry data centres. Data centre developments have a staggering impact on carbon emissions, power and water supplies. Local communities deserve clear, legally binding plans to mitigate the impact of data centres on the local environment and resources.

“While we are very pleased to see renewable energy commitments introduced for Woodlands Park, at the end of the day the community is still having to tolerate being neighbours with Big Tech, without clarity on the need or utility of the development. We want to see a moratorium on new data centre developments until the Government has robustly considered how many data centres we actually need, what their environmental impact will be, and how local community concerns will be addressed.”

Rosa Curling, co-executive director at Foxglove said:

“This is a step in the right direction but we shouldn’t have to drag the Government and data centre developers to court to get them to accept that the environmental promises they make must be legally binding – rather than empty and soon-forgotten green-washing PR tosh.

“This is far from the end of the story. There is still a vast number of ‘hyperscale’ data centres in the planning system. If they are built, they would double the amount of electricity consumed by the UK – with terrible consequences for our efforts to prevent catastrophic climate damage.

“We desperately need to see ministers step up and tell developers that they can only build new data centres if they are able to prove they will not cause harm to our climate or our critical supplies of drinking water – or jack up the price of power. Big Tech must not be allowed to stack up billions in profits while leaving the rest of us to pick up the environmental tab.”

Leigh Day solicitor Rowan Smith said:

“We are delighted for our clients. Only through their dogged determination and scrupulous analysis of this planning application was the legal error identified. This work exposed the fact that important safeguards for renewable energy were simply not secured. Our clients will apply the same level of scrutiny when further data centres come forward.”

While this precedent-setting legal victory ensures data centre developers will be held to the climate claims they make in planning applications, the local community in Iver is still facing a data centre being imposed on them against their wishes.

Leigh Tugwood, co-chair of the Iver Heath Residents’ Association commented:

“Holding developers to their word should be the bare minimum we can expect from the planning system. Unfortunately, when communities like ours are facing a big tech land-grab cheered on by the Government, we are let down by a planning system that fails to ensure even basic scrutiny of data centre proposals. Overseas interests are being favoured in the name of economic growth when there’s nothing in it for us. We are being sold out.”

“We need a moratorium now on new data centres until the planning system catches up to this 21st century threat, so we can properly scrutinise data centres' speculative claims and weigh their claimed benefits against their true economic, social and environmental consequences."

"Our community fights on, better informed, stronger than before and more determined to expose the myth and spin behind the drive to build ever more and bigger data centres. Together, we will "Stop Dirty Data Centres" from harming our communities."

What's next?

We urgently need a clear strategy from the UK Government setting out how many data centres are needed, what they will be used for, and how their environmental harm will be mitigated.

Until this is in place, we are joining communities in calling for a moratorium - or pause - on new data centre developments. You can support their efforts by signing our petition:

Sign the petition