The UK will streamline data center planning regulations as part of a broader policy to encourage developers to build their facilities in the UK.

The government is set to approve legislation that would give data center developers the right to request their data centers be considered a “nationally significant infrastructure project,” a designation currently reserved for projects related to energy, transport, waste, waste water, and water.

This would allow data center projects to bypass local planning requirements, speeding up their development.

The change would take place by way of a statutory instrument that would amend the Infrastructure Planning (Business or Commercial Projects) Regulations by adding “data centers” as a use case.

Statutory instruments are a form of secondary legislation allowing Ministers to alter Acts of Parliament without enacting a separate Act.

The amendment was approved by the House of Lords last week and the House of Commons earlier in November, but Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood still needs to formally approve it.

The UK government has recently clarified several aspects of its AI Growth Zone policy, which is intended to attract greater data center development in parts of the country affected by deindustrialization.

The government announced last week that it was changing planning guidance to reduce waiting times for data centers from four years to “as little as” two, as well as committing £4.5 million ($5.9m) to fund a planning team that would support local councils with advice and funding for planning and approving AI infrastructure.