Planning applications for data center developments in England, UK, doubled between 2024 and 2025, according to council planning data.
According to data center cabling company 2580 Group, which submitted Freedom of Information (FOI) requests to councils in England, planning applications rose from 13 applications in 2024 to 26 in 2025.
2023 saw just nine applications for data center developments.
2580 Group said these figures point to growing demand for digital infrastructure, on the back of AI and cloud computing, putting pressure on UK data center capacity.
Michael Scott, director of 2580 Group, said: “Data centers are a critical part of our national infrastructure. These sites provide the power and capacity needed to run the digital tools that businesses and consumers now rely on every day, from the internet and apps like Instagram and Facebook to CRMs and large language models like ChatGPT and Claude.”
