Should data centres be allowed to opt into the NSIP regime for faster planning approval?

The chamber closed this one out with a clear if not overwhelming No, 60% of the 43 profiled voters rejecting the government's plan to let data centres opt into the NSIP fast-track. Steve Reed's pitch about infrastructure leadership found more takers than most planning reforms manage, but not enough to carry the vote.

The real story sits in the demographics rather than the topline. Men divided almost down the middle, 14 yes to 15 no, essentially a coin toss on whether speed of approval justifies less local scrutiny. Women broke overwhelmingly against, 8 of 9 voting No, a gap too wide to read as noise even in a self-selected sample this size.

Age tells a similar tale of a squeezed middle versus the flanks. The 45-54 bracket was the only one to back the reform outright, 6 of 10 in favour, while 55-64s swung hard the other way at 13% yes and the youngest and oldest cohorts, though thin in number, leaned or ran unanimously against. It echoes the broader tension in NSIP-style reforms generally: enthusiasm for cutting red tape on paper, but instinctive resistance once it touches planning and place.

For a policy sold as a technocratic fix to unblock AI infrastructure, the vote suggests Whitehall's growth logic still has to clear a very human hurdle of trust in fast-tracked decisions.