AWS wins approval for Iver data centre despite environmental concerns
Written by Rebecca Uffindell Thu 1 Oct 2026
Amazon Web Services (AWS) has secured planning permission for a new data centre at the Ridgeway Distribution Centre in Iver, Buckinghamshire. This comes despite planners identifying potential harm to the surrounding landscape and Colne Valley Regional Park.
As reported by Bucks Free Press, Buckinghamshire Council approved the development on 28 September. The decision allows Amazon Data Services to replace 17 existing industrial units at the Ridgeway Distribution Centre with a data centre campus.
The project will occupy the 7.3-hectare site, with the main building reaching 20 metres in height. Plans also include supporting electrical infrastructure and a generator yard containing 27 backup generators.
Amazon originally submitted the plans in October 2025. Data Center Dynamics reported that the company acquired the Ridgeway site in an off-market deal for £132.5 million ($175.1 million) in 2022. The proposed campus covers 30,525 sq m.
Environmental Harm Weighed Against Need for Capacity
The decision required planners to balance the demand for new digital infrastructure against the development’s impact on the surrounding area.
Planning officers acknowledged that the project would cause harm to the local landscape and Colne Valley Regional Park. However, they concluded that the need for data centres, employment benefits, and an expected reduction in vehicle movements compared with the existing use outweighed that harm.
Amazon’s planning documents estimate that around 60 full-time roles could be supported once the facility is operational, alongside employment during construction.
Iver Parish Council neither supported nor objected to the application, but raised concerns around traffic and air quality. It also sought improvements to walking routes, including the canal path, and called for low-emission vehicles to be used during construction.
The approval therefore comes with measures intended to address some of the development’s local impact.
Generator Emissions Remain Under Scrutiny
Backup generation is one area where those requirements become particularly visible.
The proposed campus includes 27 backup generators, intended to provide power during a grid outage. Amazon Data Services also has an environmental permit application relating to emergency backup generation at the Ridgeway site under consideration by the Environment Agency.
The generators are expected primarily to use hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO), with diesel available as a backup fuel.
The development will also require a plan for monitoring generator emissions. In addition, £600,382 ($793,921) has been secured for projects intended to offset the impact of air pollution associated with the development.
Amazon has also agreed to contribute £73,000 ($96,532) towards improvements to public rights of way near the Ridgeway site. The aim is to encourage staff to travel by alternatives to private cars.
Further details will need to be submitted covering areas including construction traffic, drainage, and water use, alongside a travel plan.
The measures show how the infrastructure surrounding a data centre can become as significant to the planning process as the building itself. Additionally, backup power, transport, and the effect on the surrounding environment all form part of the case developers have to make for new capacity.
Data Centre Approvals Face Closer Scrutiny
The Iver decision comes days after Google secured planning approval for a major extension to its data centre campus at Grange Castle Business Park in Dublin. This followed a dispute over grid capacity.
Google’s 72,400 sq m development had been refused by South Dublin County Council in August 2024, with the authority citing insufficient electricity network capacity and a lack of significant on-site renewable generation. However, Google appealed, arguing that it had already secured a grid connection from EirGrid in 2021.
An Coimisiún Pleanála has now overturned that refusal. Still, the approval carries conditions including evidence of engagement around power purchase agreements before development begins and renewable fuel for backup generators. The decision may also be subject to judicial review.
The two developments faced different planning authorities and different local concerns, but both show the scrutiny surrounding new data centre capacity extending beyond the demand for digital infrastructure itself.
In Iver, planners accepted that the development would create some environmental harm. Approval followed a wider assessment of that impact against the perceived need for data centre capacity and the benefits of redeveloping the Ridgeway site, with mitigation measures becoming part of how that development can proceed.
Written by Rebecca Uffindell Thu 1 Oct 2026
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