Scottish Government reject mandatory Environmental Impact Assesments for data centres

We have received a letter back from the Minister responsible for planning, Ivan McKee, to our letter on data centres calling for a moratorium and for data centres to have mandatory EIAs.

In our letter we asked the Scottish Government to introduce a moratorium immediately to prohibit planning permission from being granted for any new data centre developments, while they do the following:

1. Publish an analysis of the impact of data centres on Scotland’s grid and net zero pathway:

including consideration of the cumulative impact of data centres coming forward on Scotland’s energy supplies, energy prices and climate targets, including the impacts of the gas or diesel back-up generation which is required on site.

2. Publish a planning circular or planning guidance

This needs to clearly defines what constitutes a ‘green data centre’, including guidance on alignment with net zero, and which informs developers that they are to include information regarding the capacity and electricity consumption of any proposed data centres clearly in application and pre-application documents; 

3. Amend the Environmental Impact Assessment Regulations

to make environmental impact assessments mandatory for all planning applications for data centres. This could be done by adding data centres to Schedule 1 of those Regulations. EIAs must ensure that a thorough analysis is carried out of the impact of the energy and water use of data centres, before a decision is made on whether to grant planning permission.

Response from the Minister

The Scottish Government responded to our letter remarkably quickly. The letter rejects our proposal of a planning moratorium and says that they do not intend to make EIAs mandatory for data centres.

However, on a more positive note, there is a promise of ‘tailored support and guidance to assist planning authorities in the determination of Data Centre Development proposals.’ This could result in a definition of green data centres, however it is not clear if this is the case and how the guidance will be provided and to what timescale. We are not confident that this will be delivered in time, and in a form, that could effectively inform the many planning applications that are already in the system.

The letter does not respond to our request for the capacity and electricity consumption of proposed data centres to be made clear in application and pre-application documents.

There is an indication that NESO’s Strategic Spatial Energy Plan (SSEP) could partly deliver the analysis of the impact of data centres we have requested, however we are concerned that the timescale for this (a public consultation on the draft SSEP is due in 2027) will come far too late, even if it does have sufficient detail on data centre impacts.

In summary we are pleased to have received a detailed response to our letter so quickly, but we are disappointed that our requests for a moratorium and for data centres to have mandatory EIA have been requested. We will continue pressing the Scottish Government on these points and will take up the offer of a meeting with officials to discuss the points further.

Read the letters