Britain’s Labour government has declared war on NIMBYs
The battle is likely to define its success
Stand on the bridge where Iver lane crosses the M25 and look north. Eight lanes of traffic hurtle along London’s orbital motorway beneath you. Shift your gaze east of the roaring stream, between the motorway barriers and an industrial estate, and you will see a former landfill site that happens to sit in the green belt (protected land that surrounds many English cities).
In 2022 Buckinghamshire council blocked a proposed data centre here, saying it would harm “the ecological value of the site”. Last year the Tory government threw out an appeal, in part because the site would have been visible “above the vegetation along the motorway”. A smaller scheme was nixed by the council in June.
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This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline “The enemy within”
Britain July 13th 2024
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From the July 13th 2024 edition
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