Woodlands Park Landfill Site, Land South of Slough Road, Iver, Buckinghamshire, UB8 2FX

Planning appeal 3347353 at Woodlands Park Landfill Site, Land South of Slough Road, Iver, Buckinghamshire, UB8 2FX (Buckinghamshire Council - South Bucks Area *) was allowed on 9 April 2025 by Inspector Baird G, following an inquiry. The main issue, as the Inspector framed it: whether the proposal would be inappropriate development in the Green Belt having regard to the Framework and any relevant development plan policy.

the redevelopment of the former landfill site to comprise a Data Centre development (B8 (Data Centre)) of up to 72,000 sqm (GEA) delivered across 2 buildings. The scheme includes site wide landscaping. The Data Centre buildings include ancillary offices, internal plant and equipment and emergency back- up generators and associated fuel storage. The development will also include cycle and car parking, internal circulation routes, soft and hard landscaping, security perimeter fence, lighting, earthworks, sustainable drainage systems, ancillary infrastructure and a substation. Summary of Recommendation: The appeal be allowed

Authority: Buckinghamshire Council - South Bucks Area *
Appeal type: major · Planning Appeal
Procedure: Inquiry
Development: employment-industrial · Other Major Developments
Inspector: Baird G

Main issues, as the Inspector framed them

whether the proposal would be inappropriate development in the Green Belt having regard to the Framework and any relevant development plan policy
the effect on the openness and purposes of the Green Belt
the landscape and visual impact of the development
whether the harm by reason of inappropriateness, and any other harm, would be clearly outweighed by other considerations so as to amount to the very special circumstances required to justify the proposal

What decided it

The Secretary of State's finding that the site constitutes grey belt land meant the development was not inappropriate development in the Green Belt, removing the need for Very Special Circumstances and allowing the substantial economic and need-related benefits to be weighed in a flat balance against the identified landscape harm.

The substantial weight given to employment, and significant weight to need, lack of alternative sites and economic benefits (with moderate weight to education/outreach, climate change mitigation and biodiversity net gain) outweighed the significant adverse landscape and visual harm, with no weight attributed to Green Belt harm as the development was not inappropriate.

What the Inspector cited

Development plan policies: Policy GB1Policy GB4Policy EP3Policy CP10Policy CP9Policy CP8Policy CP13
National Planning Policy Framework: Paragraph 49Paragraph 153Paragraph 155Paragraph 110Paragraph 115Paragraph 86aParagraph 57Paragraph 58Paragraph 85
Judgments: Monkhill Ltd v SoS for Housing, Communities & Local Government [2019] EWHC 1993; R (Sefton Borough Council) v Secretary of State [2021] PTSR 1662; R (on the application of Basildon District Council) v First Secretary of State [2004] EWHC 2759; Vistry Homes Ltd v Secretary of State [2024] EWHC 2088 (Admin)

How the Inspector dealt with each one is set out in the app, in order: the development plan, national policy, housing land supply, other considerations and the planning balance, beside the letter.

See how each was applied

The decision letter

Town Planner Pro holds this letter. The Appeals plan opens it and every other letter we hold, all of them searchable, with the main issues and what decided each case picked out. We do not show letters on the free site because they carry people’s names and addresses.

Appeals plan, £15 a month

With an account

What an account adds to this decision

209 other decided appeals within two kilometres of this site. In the app every dot opens its decision, and its letter wherever one was published, and you can draw your own site to see what has been decided around it.AllowedDismissedSplitThis decision

An appeal decision in the app, with the main issues, policies and judgments cited picked out beside the letter — Every letter, there to read. We pick out the main issues, the policies and the judgments cited, so you can work through the letter faster.

Searching the full text of appeal decision letters in the app — Search inside every letter. By words or by meaning, filtered by authority, outcome, appeal type and procedure, with every locatable decision on the map and the Inspector named on each.

Start your free trial

More decisions in Buckinghamshire Council - South Bucks Area

The authority’s record since 2016 · every decision in 2025

Notice varied and upheld4 September 20263349251
Maple Cottage, Billett Lane, Iver, Buckinghamshire, SL3 6DJ
Notice varied and upheld8 July 20263347247
Small Acres Farm, Stoke Common Road, Fulmer , Buckinghamshire , SL3 6HA
Dismissed7 July 20263369166
38 Tockley Road, Burnham, Buckinghamshire, SL1 7DH
Allowed29 May 20263376692
Boveney Court Farm Boveney Road, Dorney, Windsor, Buckinghamshire , SL4 6QG
Notice varied and upheld14 May 20263376465
Land at Denham Mount Blacksmiths Lane, Tatling End, Buckinghamshire, UB9 4HW

The main issues, what decided it, the planning balance and the policies and judgments listed as cited are read from the published letter by Town Planner Pro and are our summary, not the Inspector’s words; the letter itself is the record. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Research, not advice.