Summary
- Buckinghamshire's Strategic Sites Committee has recommended approval for a six-hall data-centre development near Wycombe Air Park.
- The site had previously been intended for an eight-stage film studio before its commercial strategy changed.
- Approval remains subject to planning conditions and a legal agreement, while the project's eventual power requirement has not been publicly stated.
A proposed six-hall data-centre campus near High Wycombe has cleared a key planning stage after Buckinghamshire Council’s Strategic Sites Committee recommended approval subject to conditions and completion of a legal agreement.
The scheme is being taken forward by Wycombe Park Ltd on land south of Wycombe Air Park. The site had previously been intended for an eight-stage film-studio development before the commercial position of the project changed and the land was redirected towards data-centre use.
Buckinghamshire Council had already agreed in early 2025 to pursue a route that could allow the site to be marketed and disposed of for data-centre development after concluding that the film-studio proposal was unlikely to proceed under changed funding and market conditions.
The Strategic Sites Committee considered the data-centre application on 2 September 2026. The current masterplan provides for six data halls across a site of roughly 13 hectares. Earlier planning material indicated individual buildings of around 9,300 square metres and heights of up to 23.5 metres, giving the project a significant physical footprint even though a final electrical capacity has not been publicly stated.
The committee recommendation is subject to a series of conditions and a legal agreement covering issues including travel-plan monitoring, a speed survey, a traffic regulation order for a lower speed limit, and a contribution associated with air-pollution mitigation.
Power remains the missing project number
The most important unresolved infrastructure figure is the site’s electrical requirement. Buckinghamshire Council’s earlier property decision specifically said investigations into power availability would be progressed in parallel with negotiations over the site’s future, but the current public reporting does not provide a megawatt figure or confirmed connection arrangement.
That leaves the project in a familiar position for large UK data-centre developments. Planning progress can establish the acceptable scale, appearance, access arrangements, and land use of a campus while the power programme follows a separate technical and commercial path with the network operator.
For six data halls, the difference between an early power assessment and a contracted connection is considerable. Substation design, grid reinforcement, transformer procurement, backup generation, and cooling plant all depend on the capacity and connection architecture ultimately secured.
The site’s history also demonstrates how data-centre demand is competing with other large employment uses for well-connected land in southern England. The original studio proposal emerged during a period of strong investment in film and television production facilities. By the time Buckinghamshire reviewed the arrangement, commercial and funding conditions had shifted enough for the council and tenant to pursue a data-centre alternative.
Buckinghamshire is already exposed to significant data-centre development pressure, particularly in areas closer to the established west London cluster. Council economic work has identified data centres as part of the county’s modern-economy opportunity, while also recognising the infrastructure required to support new employment uses.
High Wycombe sits further from the traditional Slough and west London concentrations but retains access to the M40 corridor and the wider London market. Whether the Wycombe Air Park site becomes a viable data-centre location will depend heavily on the quality and timing of its electrical connection as well as planning consent.
The committee decision therefore removes one planning obstacle without resolving the project’s most consequential engineering input. The next milestones will include completion of the legal agreement, discharge of planning conditions, and greater clarity over the site’s power pathway.
If those pieces align, the development would turn a stalled studio concept into one of Buckinghamshire’s larger digital infrastructure schemes. If grid capacity proves difficult or distant, the planning consent alone will not determine the pace at which the six halls can be built and energised.
