The Bishop of Norwich asked a question on the effectiveness of DEFRA’s current regulatory framework to provide protection for the environment from the demands of data centres on water resources on 2nd September 2026:
The Lord Bishop of Norwich: My Lords, can the Minister tell us what assessment Defra has made of the current regulatory framework and whether it will provide enough protection for the environment from the cumulative demand of data centres on water resources?
Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab, DEFRA): Clearly, the planning system is key to this. The very large data centres need to go through the NSIP—nationally significant infrastructure project—programme of planning, which also looks at full consultation. So there is a lot of interest; a lot of considerations are fully taken into account on the particularly large data centres. Clearly, like any major infrastructure, it will have an impact in a number of areas. We need to ensure that we get the balance right.
You must be logged in to post a comment.