Summary
- Rho's mayor and 51 other municipal leaders have requested changes to Lombardy's data centre legislation.
- The appeal seeks binding sustainability criteria, coordinated planning, and greater municipal involvement.
- More than 60 applications representing approximately 11GW of proposed capacity have intensified scrutiny of land, electricity, and water requirements.
Fifty-two mayors in metropolitan Milan have demanded greater influence over data centre development, calling on Lombardy’s regional government to strengthen municipal planning powers and introduce binding sustainability requirements.
The collective appeal, publicised by the Municipality of Rho on 19 October, was signed by mayor Andrea Orlandi and 51 other municipal leaders. It asks the regional government to revise Law 11/2026, which regulates data centre development across Italy’s most populous region.
The mayors want local authorities and the metropolitan administration to participate more directly in decisions affecting land use, electricity demand, water resources, and environmental impacts.
Their intervention follows earlier representations made before the legislation was adopted. A group of municipal leaders appealed for further consultation in May, while Orlandi separately wrote to regional energy councillor Massimo Sertori on 9 October seeking a structured discussion about proposed developments around Rho.
The latest collective appeal renews those demands as Lombardy prepares amendments to legislation introduced only four months ago.
Although the mayors acknowledge the economic and technological importance of data centres, they argue that existing rules do not provide sufficient local control over developments with substantial infrastructure requirements.
Major authorisations can fall to regional or national authorities. Municipalities retain planning responsibilities but cannot automatically reject a proposed facility simply because residents or local representatives oppose it.
The mayors say that division leaves councils dealing with community concerns without adequate influence over the decisions driving those concerns.
Electricity applications outpace likely construction
Lombardy has attracted an unusually large concentration of proposed data centre investment, particularly around Milan, where established connectivity and commercial infrastructure support demand for additional computing capacity.
Regional authorities have received more than 60 applications representing approximately 11GW of requested capacity since the legislation took effect in June. The requests are not equivalent to projects with planning permission, secured electricity connections, or completed buildings.
Regional estimates suggest that 11GW of continuously operating capacity could require approximately 90TWh of electricity annually, compared with Lombardy’s existing annual electricity consumption of about 65TWh. The comparison illustrates the scale of the applications rather than a forecast that every proposed facility will proceed.
In Rho, transmission operator Terna identified six data centre connection requests totalling 650MW at the end of August. These applications likewise represent requested access to the transmission system, not electricity already being consumed.
The volume of potential demand complicates decisions about transmission investment and the order in which projects should receive network capacity. A developer can seek a connection before securing an occupier, construction finance, or the approvals needed to complete the facility.
Local authorities must also consider the infrastructure required beyond the data centre boundary. New substations, transmission connections, cooling equipment, access arrangements, and potentially additional water infrastructure can affect neighbouring areas.
Consequently, assessment of an individual development may not capture the cumulative effects of several large projects seeking capacity within the same electricity network or municipality.
Regional amendments remain under consideration
Lombardy’s government is preparing changes intended to discourage development on agricultural land and give further preference to abandoned industrial sites. Officials have also identified renewable electricity and more efficient water management as priorities.
The existing law already provides incentives for using previously developed land and imposes additional construction charges on some environmentally sensitive sites. The proposed amendments would strengthen that approach, although their final provisions have not been approved.
The mayors are seeking more than adjustments to environmental conditions. Their appeal calls for coordinated regional planning with meaningful involvement from municipalities, the metropolitan authority, and communities affected by individual proposals.
They also want assessments to address water and environmental effects and ensure that appropriate compensation arrangements are considered where developments impose costs on surrounding areas.
Stronger municipal participation could improve coordination between land-use decisions and electricity infrastructure planning. It would not automatically resolve shortages of network capacity, water resources, or technically suitable development locations.
Equally, a preference for brownfield development does not establish that every former industrial site can accommodate a data centre. The availability of sufficient electricity, suitable ground conditions, cooling arrangements, and transport access still determines what can be built.
The collective appeal has also prompted criticism from campaigners who argue that councils should account for their own earlier land-use decisions rather than attribute responsibility solely to the regional framework.
That disagreement underscores the contested division of responsibilities between local authorities and regional government. Councils influence land-use planning, while several of the permissions and infrastructure decisions involved in large data centre developments lie outside their direct control.
Lombardy has yet to determine whether its amendments will increase municipal decision-making powers or primarily tighten the conditions imposed on developers.
The publication of the revised legislation will establish how the region proposes to reconcile competing applications for infrastructure with local land-use and environmental responsibilities.
