Dr Neil Hudson told MPs a data centre being worked up near Chigwell threatens the Green Belt, and raised Loughton's too. Checked November 2026.
Epping Forest MP Dr Neil Hudson told the Commons on Tuesday that a data centre being worked up near Chigwell is “speculative and completely inappropriate” and “will threaten our precious green belt”.
He raised it at 2.40pm during the Budget debate, alongside constituents’ concerns about the water and energy use of AI data centres, “including the proposal in Loughton”. He asked the Government to “leave our green belt alone and pull the plug on these damaging top-down policies and inappropriate developments” (Hansard, 3 November 2026). The speech can be watched on Parliamentlive.tv from 14:40:44.
Following the debate, Dr Hudson said:
“The speculative Chigwell Data Centre proposal is completely inappropriate and threatens our precious Green Belt. I unequivocally oppose it.
“We know Data Centres use huge amounts of energy and water, precious resources already under strain. The Government’s rhetoric in the Budget must be met with the action constituents need.
“Unfortunately, their record so far has been snatching away the powers of residents and the Council to protect their communities from inappropriate developments.”
What is proposed at Chigwell
The site Dr Hudson has named is New Barns Farm. When he wrote to the Head of Planning at Epping Forest District Council last month, he said the project had not yet been submitted and was being consulted on by developers. He said it risked Green Belt land that is not included in the district’s Local Plan, and linked his worries about water to recent local outages (Dr Neil Hudson, 2 October 2026).
“I completely share constituents’ alarm about proposals for a possible new data centre at New Barns Farm Chigwell and I firmly object to our precious Green Belt land being put at risk from this proposal,” he said then.
His speech gave no further detail of the site or of the Loughton scheme, and neither his speech nor his statement names a developer.
What the Budget said about data centres
Dr Hudson’s speech picked up the Chancellor’s announcement of a Data Centre Covenant. The Budget document says all data centres are “encouraged” to meet its tests, and are required to meet them where they are seeking enhanced government support. The tests include paying for any energy costs they create, agreeing a Local Benefit Plan with the community, protecting nature, minimising water use and publishing annual energy and water consumption reports.
Dr Hudson’s response was that the “rhetoric” now has to be matched by action. The full text is on the Covenant page on GOV.UK.
Who would decide
That is the other half of his complaint. In June, ministers designated Epping Forest District Council under Section 62A of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, which Dr Hudson says removes its power to decide major applications and passes them to central government.
His own account of the decision gives the Government’s reason: a warning letter from the Chief Planner in March cited 14.6% of the council’s major decisions being overturned on appeal in the two years to March 2025, against a 10% threshold. He argues the council has since reformed its planning committee, and called the designation “a complete affront to local democracy” (Dr Neil Hudson, 15 June 2026).
He also objects to the Government’s “grey belt” classification, saying in the debate that it is being used “in order to achieve their development targets”. He has made the same objection in the Commons before.
The other sites he raised
Dr Hudson put the data centre alongside two other fights over Green Belt and farmland in the constituency:
- Theydon Bois: he objects to proposals for 150 new homes on Green Belt land beside Theydon Bois Station, and spoke at a packed public meeting in the village hall in March.
- Thornwood and Epping Upland: he wrote to the council in June 2025 urging it to reject a 237-acre solar farm between Thornwood Common and Epping Upland, on what he described as productive arable land.
He also mentioned housing proposed around Epping.
Hospitals, the Central line and Waltham Abbey buses
The rest of the six-minute speech went through other local complaints:
- Hospitals: Whipps Cross and the Princess Alexandra in Harlow “will still be waiting until at least 2032 for any rebuild”, he said, despite Labour’s promise at the 2024 general election.
- Central line: he described “unacceptable delays, overcrowding, unbearable heat in the summer months, ear-scraping rail noise levels and ugly graffiti”, said refurbished trains were arriving “extremely slowly”, and called services on the Epping line and the Chigwell branch “unacceptable”.
- Waltham Abbey buses: more than 3,000 people signed a petition against Transport for London’s cuts to local services, which he said have been made worse by buses ending early on weekdays. He asked the Government to push TfL and Essex County Council to act.
- Social care: he said the Prime Minister’s plans will not cover residential care costs, “the very reason that people have to sell their homes”.
As a Conservative MP, he also pressed his party’s case on tax, including scrapping the family farm tax and family business tax in full, abolishing inheritance tax on family homes and scrapping business rates for 250,000 businesses. He also asked the Government to say how 3% of GDP would go on defence by 2030.
What it means for you
- If you live around Chigwell or Loughton: by Dr Hudson’s account there was no submitted application at New Barns Farm as of his October letter, and on Tuesday he described the plan as still being worked up. Formal comments to the planning system would come once an application is lodged. He has not said when that might be.
- If you live in Brentwood: neither scheme is in the borough. Chigwell and Loughton come under Epping Forest District Council, and Brentwood planning is decided separately by Brentwood Borough Council.
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