Wycombe Park Ltd’s plans for a data center near High Wycombe, UK, have been recommended for approval by the Buckinghamshire Council Strategic Sites Committee.. The site, which is located on land south of the Wycombe Air Park, was originally proposed as an eight-stage film studio, developed by Stage Fifty.. – Buckinghamshire County Council.
Stage Fifty collapsed in April 2024, with development taken over by Wycombe Film Studios, now Wycombe Park Ltd.. Wycombe Park then shifted plans to a data center development. Buckinghamshire County Council stated that a film studio development was unlikely to progress due to the changing film landscape, both commercially and from a funding perspective..
Buckinghamshire Council’s Strategic Sites Committee has now recommended the approval of planning permission, subject to a number of planning conditions and the completion of a legal agreement to secure travel plan monitoring, a speed survey, a traffic regulation order for speed limit reduction, and a damage-cost contribution to mitigate air pollution.. The committee said the use as a data center would be “acceptable given the allocation of the site as a strategic employment area.”.
The committee found that the site would not limit the operation of aviation uses at the nearby air park; would have no adverse impact on highway safety or the operation of the local highway; and would have an “acceptable” impact on the amenities of its neighbors, given that “pollution issues, including air quality, light, and noise, can reasonably be controlled by condition.”. The proposed development covers 13 hectares (32 acres) of land, and would include six large data halls, alongside offices, landscaping, and other infrastructure..
Accompanying the application was an economic statement which said that development could bring around 2,200 temporary local jobs during construction and support 1,027 full-time local jobs during the operational phase.. However, while the council’s recommendation says the development would bring “powerful economic benefits” to the local area, it suggests that the proposed operational workforce would just be approximately 300 full-time equivalent jobs..
It said: “Whilst this is lower than may be expected from some alternative employment-generating uses on an allocated strategic employment site, the proposal would nevertheless provide an employment function and provide economic benefits through both the construction and operational phases.”. The committee also recognized that data centers are important digital infrastructure and support the wider economy..
One other notable concern from the committee was the site’s potential impact on the nearby Chilterns National Landscape and its wider surrounding countryside, which falls into the national landscape area.. Policy requires that the development must not have an adverse effect on the natural beauty of the area.
The committee said that, while the development wouldn’t have a decidedly adverse effect, the likely scale, massing, and visual presence of the development would fail to positively contribute to the character, appearance, and overall quality of the surrounding area.. The application will now be delegated to the Service Director of Planning and Environment, who will likely approve the development, subject to the previously mentioned planning conditions and legal agreements..
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