The AIGZ regime is a programme-level frame stitched together from three pre-existing statutory layers and one fiscal/regulatory layer. None of the four AIGZ-specific levers is itself a free-standing statute: the regime works by activating dormant or under-used hooks in older Acts.
The first layer is the planning route. Section 35 of the Planning Act 2008 has always allowed the Secretary of State to direct a 'business or commercial project' into the NSIP regime — but only where the project type is prescribed by regulations. Until January 2026, data centres were not a prescribed type. SI 2026/13 1 fixes that with a one-line amendment adding 'Data centres' to the Schedule of the 2013 Regulations. The legal architecture this creates is significant: a developer of a data centre in an AIGZ can REQUEST a s.35 direction; the Secretary of State must then judge whether the project is of national significance; if directed, the project is examined by the Planning Inspectorate under the DCO regime rather than by the local planning authority. The SLSC drew this SI to the special attention of the House 2, signalling that the constitutional shift — moving a class of private commercial development from local democratic to centralised consent — is non-trivial.
The second layer is grid access. The Electricity Act 1989 s.37 consent regime 3 continues to govern overhead lines feeding AIGZ load. Above that, s.165A of the Energy Act 2023, operationalised by SI 2026/223 4, lets DSIT/DESNZ designate strategic plans the ISOP must have regard to — embedding AIGZ demand into network planning. The Network Charging Compensation Scheme uplift announced in HCWS869 5 sits alongside, attempting to neutralise the operating-cost penalty hyperscale data centres face under transmission/distribution charging.
The third layer is local plan-making. SI 2026/350 6 and the wider 2004 Act/LURA 2023 framework determine how AIGZ sites are reflected in local plan documents, particularly where they overlap minerals and waste areas. This is the layer that the s.35 route can BYPASS for individual projects but cannot wholly displace, because broader development needs the local plan to recognise it.
The fourth layer is industrial-strategy framing rather than statute: the AI Opportunities Action Plan 7, its Government Response (CP 1242) 8, the Modern Industrial Strategy 9, the Digital and Technologies Sector Plan 10 and CP 1440 11. These are not law; they bind no-one. But they structure the discretion the Secretary of State will exercise in deciding which data-centre projects meet the 'national significance' test and which AIGZ applications to designate.
What the regime CANNOT do is override the Electricity Act 1989 s.37 EIA screening process, override habitats/biodiversity duties carried into the planning regime by the Environment Act 2021 and accompanying SIs, or bypass devolved planning competence in Scotland (where Lanarkshire sits). These are the friction points the implementation phase will surface.