Harworth Group, the regeneration, strategic land and development business, said Leeds City Council's local planning committee has passed a resolution to approve Microsoft’s planning application at Skelton Grange.
The application seeks full permission for a data centre campus of roughly 500,000 sq ft across three halls and outline permission for about 160,000 sq ft of warehouse and EV charging on Harworth’s adjoining 16-acre plot.
Harworth completed the first phase (Plot 1) sale to Microsoft in June 2024 for 27 acres and £51.2m, and said it is delivering remediation and enabling works on Plot 2 (21 acres) and will receive a further £53.2m on completion of that sale.
"Obtaining the resolution to grant planning consent is demonstrable progress towards the completion of the Plot 2 sale and reflects our close and effective collaboration with Microsoft," Lynda Shillaw, Chief Executive, said.
Harworth added that Skelton Grange is estimated to deliver c. £4bn of inward investment when complete and that its powered land portfolio has a further 0.8GW of power connections beyond the Skelton site, supporting future data-centre demand.
The application reference is 25/06139/FU and Leeds City Council’s Plans Panel (23/04/2027) deferred and delegated approval to the Chief Planning Officer subject to conditions and an S106 agreement.
Harworth will announce a Trading Update for Q1-2026 at its AGM on Monday 18 May.
