Leeds City Council’s Flood Risk Management (FCRM) assessment has ruled against the proposed development plans of Microsoft for a 64.4-acre data centre campus in Knostrop, Leeds, for the third time.

This comes a month after it was reported that the tech giant was facing delays in securing power for the campus at Skelton Grange.

The FCRM objected to the plans, according to documents dated January 22, and requested further information from MSFT MCIO, Microsoft’s UK-based subsidiary.

This is the third flood-risk review conducted by FCRM, following the first assessment in November 2025 and a second in the first week of January.

The FCRM objected to the plans in all three consultation responses, with the most recent document identifying internal inconsistencies in modelling results, a risk that attenuation features are undersized and concerns around drain-down times being too slow as leading issues.

As reported by NPM Europe in November 2025, the proposed phased development comprises three data centre buildings, each with a gross internal floor space of around 39,391 sqm, dubbed LBA10, LBA11, and LBA12, as well as a basement and plant roof equipped with cooling units.

Each data centre unit measures 39,402 sqm GIA and will be 32m in height, according to an October 2025 planning statement prepared by Savills.

In addition, the site will feature associated energy, power and water infrastructure, as well as access, security, and landscaping.

The development hopes to “make a meaningful contribution to the forecast requirement for 4,180 MW of data storage capacity within the UK by 2030” as well as create 163 net full-time equivalent additional operational jobs, 93 at a national level and 70 at a regional level.

Additionally, the development hopes to generate a direct GVA at the regional level of GBP 9.7m.

The Skelton Grange brownfield site was previously home to two coal-fired power stations, which were demolished in 1995.

*This story was originally published exclusively for NPM Europe subscribers.