A Caernarfon data centre proposed at the former Ferodo factory beside the Menai Strait is now the subject of a request for Welsh Ministers to take over the planning decision. The Welsh Government’s case register, updated on 16th October 2026, identifies the Gwynedd scheme among the applications being considered for ministerial intervention.
This is a call-in request, not a call-in decision. The register records the request as received on 24th September 2026, gives it case ID 2037, and describes its current status as under initial processing. Nothing in that entry establishes that ministers have taken responsibility for determining the application, imposed a holding direction, granted permission or refused it.
The distinction matters for people in Caernarfon, Y Felinheli and along the Menai Strait. The proposed campus would bring a substantial new form of development to land adjoining a former industrial site and an environmentally sensitive coastal setting. Deciding whether Gwynedd Council or Welsh Ministers should determine the proposal is a separate question from whether the development itself is acceptable.
What the Caernarfon data centre call-in request means
The official Welsh Government register records case 2037 as a planning call-in request relating to land at and adjacent to the former Ferodo site, Griffiths Crossing, Caernarfon. The development is described as an outline application involving demolition, site regrading, Class B8 data centre buildings, back-up generators, plant, substations, access, servicing, drainage and related engineering works.
For the Caernarfon data centre, the administrative record gives the date the request was received, but not the name of the requester, the grounds advanced, or a decision on whether to intervene. It would therefore be wrong to attribute the request to any particular campaigner or political representative, or to present the proposal as already called in.
Welsh Ministers’ published call-in guidance says planning decisions should ordinarily remain with local planning authorities. Call-in is a rarely used reserve power considered principally where planning issues reach beyond local importance. The government considers the suitability of the decision-making route, not the ultimate planning merits, when deciding whether to call in an application.
The former Ferodo factory and the proposed campus
The applicant, Gwelyfenai Limited, has submitted an outline proposal referenced C25/0740/20/EIA on Gwynedd’s planning system. Its Design and Access Statement, prepared by TTSP, says the project would establish a substantial digital infrastructure campus. The document is an applicant’s statement of intentions and claimed benefits, not an independent planning finding.
The Caernarfon data centre application covers land on the coast between Caernarfon and Y Felinheli, around the former Ferodo and Friction Dynamics automotive components site. The Lôn Las Menai cycle route and Wales Coast Path pass through the wider site. The applicant describes access crossings but says it is not proposing other alterations or diversions to those routes.
In the design document, the applicant identifies the adjacent Menai Strait and Conwy Bay Special Area of Conservation, the wider landscape setting and nearby Anglesey protected landscape as considerations. It acknowledges that part of the site lies beyond the built-up factory footprint and outside the development boundary in the adopted joint local development plan. These circumstances make location, environmental assessment, scale and landscape effects particularly important planning questions; they do not decide the application in either direction.
Why the Welsh Government might intervene
The Welsh Government’s guidance identifies potential call-in considerations including conflict with national policy, impacts extending beyond the locality, substantial controversy, effects on protected environmental or historic interests, national security and novel planning questions. It also stresses that a proposal meeting one of these descriptions will not necessarily be called in. Those are assessment criteria, not findings that the Caernarfon data centre actually breaches planning policy.
The proposal has attracted substantial local opposition. Earlier Planning Geek coverage explained the petition, protest and Environmental Impact Assessment consultation. The latest development is different: a formal request now appears on the Welsh Government’s ministerial case register. A petition, whatever its size, is not itself evidence of the legal or planning grounds for call-in, and a call-in request does not decide the underlying merits.
Local objections have reached the Senedd. During a debate on 23rd September 2026, Member Beca Brown warned that the scheme would, in her view, “cause sound and light pollution locally” and questioned the benefits for the surrounding community. Responding as a Welsh Government minister, Adam Price said ministers intended to bring forward a policy framework addressing concerns about data centres and their effects on local people and the environment. Neither statement is a ministerial decision on this application.
The Caernarfon data centre proposal is also presented by its promoters as regeneration of a long-disused factory area and an opportunity for employment and investment. Those claims must be assessed alongside environmental, infrastructure and community impacts. The Welsh Government’s present administrative review is not an endorsement or rejection of either side’s case.
What happens after a call-in request?
Where ministers decline to call in an application, the local planning authority may continue to a determination in the normal way, subject to other applicable legal requirements. Where ministers do call it in, an independent inspector examines the application through written representations, a hearing, an inquiry or a combination, and makes a recommendation for a ministerial decision. This is not an ordinary appeal against a council refusal.
The guidance also explains the possibility of a temporary holding direction, which can prevent a local authority issuing permission while ministers consider a request. Such a direction does not automatically follow every request. No holding direction for the Caernarfon data centre has been verified from the current government register, so none should be assumed.
A further practical point is timing. A call-in request is most useful before the council reaches a decision. The government’s guidance says it normally acknowledges requests within 15 working days and may consider an officer report where available. That administrative timetable does not amount to a promised determination date for this scheme. The case should be checked again when the government updates its register or issues a specific decision.
What residents and the applicant should watch
For residents and local organisations, the next reliable milestone is a decision on who will determine the proposal, followed in due course by the substantive planning process. Anyone following the application should keep case 2037 separate from Gwynedd’s application reference C25/0740/20/EIA. The former tracks ministerial consideration; the latter identifies the development itself on the council’s register.
For developers, the Caernarfon data centre review illustrates why significant proposals can acquire a second procedural risk alongside their planning merits. A call-in, if made, changes the decision-maker and examination route. It does not by itself make permission more or less likely, and any assessment must still address Welsh planning policy, the local development plan and environmental evidence.
The position remains unchanged on the Welsh Government case register: case 2037 is still at the initial processing stage. The next meaningful update will be a clear decision about whether ministers will call in the application or leave Gwynedd Council to determine it.
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