An application for a 300MW hyperscale data centre on the outskirts of Larbert has been lodged by developers Apatura. A full planning application has been submitted with a deadline for comments and objections by 25 June.
This story was covered in the following papers:
- The National Application made for third huge data centre in Scotland despite emission warnings
- Sunday Mail Vast AI data centres planned for Scotland spark fury amid ‘Olympic-level greenwashing’
- Falkirk Herald Residents up in arms about AI data centre proposed for Larbert
We have written a webpage of info for people whop wish to know more with an initial analysis of the application – with more to follow. As of 16th June there are over 800 objections on the planning portal. If you wish to comment please do so by 25 June.
Local Campaign
There is a local campaign facebook group which is mobilising against the proposals
Kat Jones said:
“Another day, another application for a giant hyperscale AI data centre in the central belt of Scotland.
“This 300mw data centre is right on the edge of houses in Larbert, and very close to Vale of Leven Hospital. It will draw the same power as 300,000 households and the application says they will have 200 industrial scale diesel backup generators which will create hazardous pollution for locals and the Forth Valley hospital when they are operating.
“The developers have made it as difficult as possible for communities to input to this application. There are hundreds of documents to look through and the environmental Impact Assessment alone is split into 52 separate documents, making it impossible to scrutinise. We call on the council to allow enough time for people to respond to this application and ask that they collate the documentation into a reasonable number of documents so that local people and wider civil society can see what is actually planned.
“The Scottish Government urgently needs to put in place a moratorium so that a proper study on the impacts of these data centres on the grid, our climate targets and communities.
“We have had enough of the Olympic level green washing of these huge data centres. A recent report by the UN highlighted the terrifying environmental consequences of the data centre boom fo0r the planet and for people.”