Government consultation to tackle speculative demand grid connection requests - response from Boyer
Commenting on today’s announcement, Lawrence Turner, Director, Boyer said:
The Government is right to clamp down on speculative grid connection requests if the queue has genuinely become clogged with projects that were never likely to move forward. Tightening the conditions for entering and remaining in the queue should help redirect grid capacity toward schemes that are genuinely deliverable. If applied robustly, that could materially shorten connection times for viable projects.
However, the reforms go much further than tidying up the system. By signalling that sectors such as AI data centres and major industrial projects may be prioritised, ministers are effectively introducing politics into planning, by deciding which types of development get electricity first.
That has real implications for developers. For many of our commercial and industrial clients, particularly those involved in data centres, logistics and advanced manufacturing, these changes could unlock schemes that have been stuck behind speculative projects in the queue.
But there is a flip side. Housing delivery increasingly depends on access to grid capacity, and in some areas, power constraints are already slowing development. If strategic infrastructure begins to receive preferential access to electricity connections, there is a real possibility that new homes could find themselves competing with server farms for power.
The question becomes is, when electricity is scarce, do we power servers first, or homes? Both are strategic development.
In relation to Boyer’s growing work in the I&L sector, Nick Diment, Director, Head of Boyer London & South East added...
Today’s announcement reinforces the growing recognition that data centres, alongside industrial and logistics assets, form part of the strategic infrastructure underpinning the UK’s AI-driven economy.
This has tangible implications for developers. For many of our commercial and industrial clients—particularly those involved in data centres, logistics and advanced manufacturing—these changes could unlock projects that have been held up behind speculative applications in the grid connection queue.
The “three Ps” (Planning, Politics and Power) are often cited as the principal barriers to delivering development across the commercial sector. Yet this sector is itself a broad church, encompassing freight, logistics, industrial, manufacturing, gigafactories and data centres, among others.
As such, any reforms must be careful not to appear to favour one sub-sector over another. Each of these industries plays a critical role in supporting the way we live, shop and work, and all have legitimate claims on the infrastructure needed to operate and grow.