Written Question·Department for Science, Innovation and Technology·UIN 78335

Data Centres: Environmental Impact Assessment

Tabled: 10 October 2025

Answered: 16 October 2025

Named Day

Question

Clive Lewis

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether her Department undertook an environmental impact assessment for the building of new data centres before the announcement of the Tech Prosperity Deal on 16 September 2025.

Answer

Kanishka Narayan

Developers are responsible for carrying out environmental impact assessments for new data centres. As part of our criteria for hosting major data centres, such as in AI Growth Zones (AIGZ), we set a minimum requirement of at least 500MW of energy capacity...

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