Consultation responses
27 Sep 2024

techUK’s response to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government’s consultation on the proposed changes to the National Planning Policy Framework

techUK has submitted a response to the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government’s proposed changes to the National Planning Policy Framework. The consultation, which closed on Tuesday 24 September 2024, can be found here.

You can find below a summary of techUK’s response, as well as a full copy at the bottom. If you have any questions, please contact [email protected]

Summary:

The UK is recognised as a leading tech economy, boasting a robust digital sector and a thriving research and start-up ecosystem. But despite this impressive standing, concerns are growing that the country's infrastructure is not evolving at the pace needed to support the rapid expansion of its digital tech sector. Issues such as planning delays, grid connection challenges, incoherent policy, and insufficient data visibility across sectors are threatening to hamper future growth, as well as the increasingly high cost of energy in the UK. This has contributed to London being the second most expensive place to operate a data centre in Europe, after Zurich.

Currently, the tech sector contributes over £150 billion GVA annually to the economy, and reforms to planning rules and construction to rebuild outdated infrastructure could help play a role in boosting this to £200 billion.

To get there, the UK needs to better facilitate the construction of digital infrastructure such as data centres. This infrastructure is essential for underpinning a vast array of tech use cases, from the most advanced AI to business technology for small companies such as CRM systems. This is why each new data centre contributes between £397m and £436m GVA per year. 

For example, techUK's response supported the development of previously developed land (PDL) and grey belt land to meet commercial and other development needs and advocated that the NPPF explicitly prioritise data centres and digital infrastructure in areas with existing supporting infrastructure, including energy capacity and internet connectivity.

techUK called for data centres to be explicitly recognised by the NPPF in the Seven Tech Priorities, which we were glad to see reflected in the proposed changes. techUK's response additionally advocated for further explicit recognition of the public benefit of improved digital connectivity and the need for timely grid connections and constant energy supply for data centres, as well as that the NPPF should explicitly recognise telecoms as being an essential digital infrastructure as data centres were. Given that digital infrastructure underpins daily life across the UK, the NPPF should also recognise the necessity of building some digital infrastructure, namely telecoms infrastructure, on the Green Belt to respond to consumer and business demand.

techUK's response also stressed the NPPF recognise the need for a minimum standard of service from planning agencies, and recommend improving planning officer expertise and ringfencing planning funds to combat budget cuts. techUK also suggested standardising guidance and increasing central government expertise to ensure consistent decision-making on data centres and digital infrastructure. techUK supports the inclusion of data centres in the NSIP consenting regime but would welcome clarity that firms will not be forced down this route and that this will only expand options for data centre developers.

We recognise the NPPF is only one part of a larger chorus of planning and development policies, for example the Local Growth Plans, Permitted Development Rights, Practical Planning Guidance and ensure they pull in the same direction as the proposed changes to the NPPF. Furthermore, techUK also recognise that UK’s planning system will not be reformed merely by the tweaking of the NPPF. Instead, the UK must take a holistic approach to its entire infrastructure system, including the incentives built into the planning system, to ensure that the UK is building all of the digital infrastructure necessary for our 21st century economy and society.

The UK has one of only three tech sectors in the world valued at over $1 trillion. It’s a sector that does not just provide a basis for economic growth, but has become the rock upon which our modern economy and society are built. We cannot afford to block development of necessary infrastructure for such a vital sector. Instead, the UK needs to make building digital infrastructure quicker, easier and cheaper, not just to enable the innovations of technologies such as generative AI, which could boost UK productivity by up to 14%, but to ensure the foundations on which our economy and society are built on are strong enough for the future.

 

Full response

You can find the full response here.

 If you have any questions, please contact [email protected]

 

 

Archie Breare

Archie Breare

Public Affairs Manager, techUK

Neil Ross

Neil Ross

Associate Director, Policy, techUK

 

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