Update on the SDC M40 Campus project and our route to planning consent

Stage One consultation feedback and ongoing engagement

The first stage of public consultation ran from 12 November 2025 to 8 January 2026. Approximately 167 people attended the four events that were held (in-person and online). We received comments covering a variety of themes including employment and upskilling; the nature park and other amenities such as public rights of way; active travel and transport to the site; and the energy and water strategy.

All consultation materials shared during the public consultation are available on the Documents website page.

We are in the process of considering all feedback from the first stage of public consultation. We are also continuing engagement with statutory consultees, local stakeholders and other interested parties.

Ongoing technical assessments

We are continuing to develop the SDC M40 Campus proposals, informed by ongoing technical assessments, surveys and environmental information, and the feedback received to date.

We are engaging with technical consultees (such as the Environment Agency) and progressing the EIA (Environmental Impact Assessment) scoping process, through which we explore potential development sizes and environmental impacts. This informs our proposals, including how we plan to mitigate potential impacts.

Responses from technical consultees will be factored into the draft designs that we will publish as part of the second stage of consultation and, in due course, the final Development Consent Order.

Route to planning consent

We also wanted to provide an update on our route to planning consent.

During Stage One consultation, we spoke about our intention to bring the data centre campus and the energy centre forward through a single Development Consent Order (DCO) application, rather than as two separate applications under different planning regimes. This route to planning consent is for ‘Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects’ (NSIPs) and is underpinned by the Planning Act 2008. The Secretary of State will make a decision on whether to grant a DCO.

Bringing the two elements together into one application is important given the integrated nature of the proposals.

In early January 2026, reforms to the planning system, which enabled data centres to be consented under the NSIP regime, came into force. Previously, any planning application for a data centre required permission under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990.

In late January 2026, SDC applied for a direction (under section 35 of the Planning Act 2008) to enable the data centre campus to be consented under the NSIP regime. In March 2026, the Secretary of State gave a direction that the data centre campus should be treated as development of national significance for which a DCO is required.

The energy centre component of SDC M40 Campus already qualifies as an NSIP under the Planning Act 2008, requiring a DCO.

SDC is therefore bringing forward a single DCO application which incorporates the data centre campus, the energy centre and related associated development. This reflects SDC M40 Campus being a single, integrated project.

Local stakeholders, including Buckinghamshire Council, local residents and town and parish councils, are important consultees in the NSIP planning process and SDC is committed to continuing to involve the local community as the proposals for SDC M40 Campus progress.

We plan to hold a second stage of public consultation later this year when we will share more detail on the draft proposals. We will host further consultation events as well as publish the draft plans online. We welcome feedback for the project team to consider before the plans are finalised and submitted as a DCO.

For general enquiries, please contact the project team at info@sdcM40campus.co.uk or on 0800 156 0709.