Government admits its approval for Buckinghamshire AI datacentre should be quashed

Campaigners hail U-turn during legal challenge over proposed centre an ‘embarrassing climbdown’

The government has been forced to admit its own planning approval for a major AI datacentre should be quashed after it failed to fully consider the climate impact, in what campaigners described as “an embarrassing climbdown”.

Angela Rayner, the former deputy prime minister, had overruled opposition from a local council to grant permission for a hyperscale datacentre on greenbelt land by the M25 in Buckinghamshire in line with Labour’s pledge to enable faster private investment in AI. But her successor, Steve Reed, has admitted the reasons for not requiring an environmental impact assessment were “inadequate” and that “permission should be quashed”.