Permission for massive data centre is approved despite BP objection

A PROPOSED large scale data centre which has prompted a dispute between Teesworks and oil giant BP has been granted planning permission.

- By STUART ARNOLD

A letter sent to Redcar and Cleveland Council at the end of last month revealed an objection to the data centre since it was claimed it would be incompatible with BP’s H2 Teesside hydrogen project.

But the reserved matters application for the data centre, being brought forward by Teesworks Limited, was granted permission by the local planning authority less than a week later.

Teesworks Limited and the South Tees Development Corporation in the form of the ‘South Tees Group’ have themselves objected to the potential granting of a development consent order by the secretary of state for H2 Teesside, which would pave the way for land on The Foundry site at Teesworks to be compulsorily purchased.

The two parties claim land within the limits of the order would directly clash with land earmarked for the data centre, while a proposed ‘inner zone’ for hazardous installations which would be required for the blue hydrogen production facility would lead to incompatible planning restrictions meaning the data centre could not progress.

Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen has previously welcomed BP bosses to Teesworks in a bid to secure new investment and in 2021 said its plans were “marking us out as the go-to place for innovation in the hydrogen sector, while creating good-quality, well-paid jobs in the cleaner, safer and healthier industries of the future”.

But Lichfields, Teesworks’ planning consultancy, recently suggested there was “increasing uncertainty in the applicant's [BP] commitment to and funding for the proposed development [H2 Teesside]”, suggesting it may not go ahead.