Plans for the 550MW AI data centre at Ravenscraig would displace 1000 homes which are in the current Masterplan for the area. North Lanarkshire council objected to previous plans for a freight terminal on the basis that the area should become homes, and an appeal to Scottish Ministers was rejected because it did not accord with the development plan.
This story was researched and written by Petra Matijevic in The National ‘Council passed caller’s details on to AI data centre firm’
Journalist Petra Matijevic has looked into the plans at Ravenscraig and found that the current masterplan for development of the AI data centre, planned by Apatura, shows that the Eastern site of the data centre is earmarked for 1000 homes and the Western part for Employment development.
The data centre plans have not been submitted yet but both sites, east and west, have been screened out of needing an Environmental Impact Assessments.
This is not the only hyperscale data centre that would displace planned homes. The developer of 450 homes at the old IBM site at Greenock, which would have including reopening the station, has switched plans to a more lucrative data centre.
North Lanarkshire Council previously rejected a Freight Terminal (21/00273/FUL) that was proposed on the eastern hyperscale data centre site due to it displacing plans for residential accommodation and going against the Masterplan. The developers appealed and Ministers also rejected the proposals on the basis that “the proposed development does not accord overall with the relevant provisions of the development plan and that there are no material considerations which would justify granting planning permission”.
As far as we have seen from statements from the Council, reports from locals and Freedom of Information Requests, North Lanarkshire Council Scotland is supportive of a hyperscale data centre at the site which is very disappointing. Scotland is supposed to have a plan-led planning system, but the speculative rush for AI hyperscale data centres is anything but. We believe this is unacceptable to replace plans for 1000 homes, in a housing crisis with a hyperscale data centre.
The western site is set to be built on land ear-marked for employment land, and, given the minimal jobs created by data centres, we feel that this is not compliant with the intentions of the Materplan.
Local resident Mary Ferrie, who has tried to get further information out of the council about the data centre, and received a call-back from Apatura in breach of data privacy rules, has set up a Facebook group to oppose the hyperscale data centre: Ravenscraig locals against mega data centres.
Read the Masterplan here:
Clare Symonds of Planning Democracy said:
Planning Democracy is a community-led organisation campaigning to strengthen the voice and influence of the public in the planning and development of Scotland’s land.
“The Council should be independent of developers, not acting as their receptionist. Residents are entitled to expect that when they contact the planning authority, their personal information will not be passed to a developer without their knowledge or consent.
“This breach is corrosive to public confidence in the planning system and inevitably fuels concerns about whether planning decisions are being made at arm’s length from developers. The Council should carry out a full investigation, publish its findings, and explain what safeguards it will put in place to prevent this happening again.
“Until that investigation is complete and public confidence has been restored, the Council should place a temporary moratorium on determining data centre planning applications. These are decisions with significant and lasting environmental consequences, including impacts on energy demand, water resources, biodiversity and climate. They must be taken through a planning process that is demonstrably fair, transparent and trusted by the public.”
Kat Jones of APRS said:
“Scotland is supposed to have a plan-led planning system, but the speculative rush for AI hyperscale data centres is anything but. The site at Ravenscraig would displace plans for 1000 homes in the midst of a housing crisis, and the developer of 450 homes at the old IBM site at Greenock has switched plans to a more lucrative data centre.
“Developers of hyperscale data centres seem to think their huge and energy-hungry developments, which create minimal jobs should trump plans for housing. This is unacceptable.
“The rush for planning permission for hyperscale data centres comes into a complete void in information and guidance from the Scottish government. We know from parliamentary questions that they are not monitoring these applications and their energy demands, despite our research showing those in the planning system would more than double our peak energy demand.
“We are calling for an urgent moratorium on hyperscale data centres until the impacts can be investigated and appropriate guidance put in place to support planning authorities in their decision making.”