Data centers in England: 32 projects mapped

Imagery: Esri, Maxar

England's largest data center project under way is QTS's campus at Cambois, on the former Blyth Power Station site in Northumberland. Northumberland County Council approved the first two buildings in December 2025, and plans for two more buildings were lodged by early September 2026. Nearby, OpenAI paused its Stargate UK plan at Cobalt Park in North Tyneside in April 2026, citing "regulation and the cost of energy." No planning application had been filed for the site at the time. On August 28 the national government refused calls for a moratorium on large new data centers.

The sharpest local fight is on London's eastern edge, where Digital Reef proposes the East Havering Data Centre Campus on 99 acres of green belt on Fenn Lane in North Ockendon. Havering Council consulted from March 6 to April 7, 2026, on a Local Development Order that would permit it, and the campaign group Protect the Green Belt (North Ockendon Alliance) has threatened a court challenge. "I bought my house here because it was quiet and out in the green fields," one resident told the Havering Daily. The council has not yet published a decision on adopting the order.

Residents have won once in court. In January 2026 the government admitted it had wrongly approved Greystoke Land's data center at Woodlands Park, near Iver in Buckinghamshire, after Buckinghamshire Council refused it and the campaign group Foxglove sued; the approval is to be quashed. Greystoke also won permission on appeal for a data center near Abbots Langley in Hertfordshire after Three Rivers District Council refused it.

Every project above is drawn from public records, filings and local reporting. Each row links to what it is based on. Statuses change, so check the source date before you rely on one. Found something wrong? Write to [email protected] and it gets fixed.