Call for transparency on AI Growth Zone Developments 

Campaigners are calling today for the full extent of the developments that will be part of the AI Growth Zone in Lanarkshire to be made public.

Countryside charity APRS has revealed today that there are multiple sites, that are proposed to be part of Data Vita’s AI Growth zone developments, much of it in Green Belt and a different developer is planning another hyperscale data centre in fields directly abutting the Data Vita site. The hyperscale data centre plans for both developers cover an area of 150 hectares, and Data Vita are planning energy parks that will cover many hundred of hectares more. APRS, along with local campaign group, Woodhall Faskine and Palacecraig Conservation Group, have written to the local authority, the Scottish Government and to the UK Government to ask for transparency. 

Green Belt Destruction for very few jobs

A Freedom of Information Request to UK Government recently revealed that 90% of the jobs claimed for the AI Growth Zone were made up of construction, indirect and induced jobs. Data Centres famously employ very few people and the UK Government said in their statement: “We have never claimed that thousands of people will work inside a data centre day to day…. AI data centres are enabling infrastructure, like energy networks or transport.”

A report on Jobs and Data Centres that we wrote in March shows a data centres employ 20-50 people.

Data Vita, the developers of the hyperscale 500MW hyperscale AI data centre put in pre-application notifications for two large sites of predominantly Green Belt land, totalling 212 hectares, on 19^th January, just 10 days before the announcement of the AI Growth Zone by the UK Government.  An EIA screening for a third location on an industrial estate was received at the end of January 2026.  

The largest of the Data Vita sites abuts directly on another development site for a 200MW data centre by ILI.

Data Vita is currently constructing an extension to its existing data centre to create a 40MW site. This development was permitted on Green Belt land and a number of mature and veteran oak trees have been removed, as well as an avenue of oaks known locally as the Muirhead oaks, as they are thought to be connected to the Muirhead Clan seat which was nearby. 

The Tree report for the development describes one of the areas lost: ‘A substantial group of prominent landscape trees is located in the northwest corner of the site, contributing significant amenity value to the broader landscape. This group comprises trees of varying age classes and conditions, with a high proportion of veteran trees. Many of these trees exhibit characteristics that provide suitable habitats for roosting bats and nesting opportunities for birds. Additionally, the group serves as an important ecological corridor, linking to the larger woodland area situated to the east of G5”

Data Vita also proposes to create ‘Energy Parks’ for ‘up to 1000MW of energy infrastructure including substantial battery storage (BESS) which would likely go alongside the data centre buildings. They propose that energy from solar and wind will come into the development by ‘private wire’.

Planning permission for energy developments of more than 50MW are handled by the Scottish Government, rather than local authorities, and APRS and local campaign group Woodhall Faskine and Palacecraig Conservation Group are concerned that the total environmental impact of the AI Growth zone will be masked by many individual applications going in, some via the local authority and some via Scottish Government. They are calling for all the planned developments to be mapped so that the cumulative impact of the AI Growth Zone can be assessed. 

In addition a second developer, ILI is proposing a 200MW data centre and BESS in the field directly North of the largest Data Vita site – in yellow in the map above.

APRS and Woodhall Faskine and Palacecraig Conservation Group, have written to North Lanarkshire Council, the UK Government and the Scottish Government to ask that they bring together a plan of all the developments associated with the AI growth Zone, including those related to energy, so that the impact on Green Belt, communities and the wider environment can be assessed properly.

Diane Davidson, Secretary of Woodhall Faskine and Palacecraig Conservation Group said:

“For a decade, we have campaigned to protect the integrity of the Green Belt, proving it is a vital ecological and community asset. Farmers are facing immense pressure to ‘cash in’ to developers as land values easily leap from £9,000 to over £40,000 an acre with a planning use change. This isn’t genuine economic growth, it is a “greengrab”at the expense of productive farmland and essential wildlife corridors. This sliced up approach is disguising the true size of the picture and doesn’t allow it the full scrutiny it deserves. 

“This project undermines North Lanarkshire’s own biodiversity policies, replacing carbon-sinking soil and protected habitats with a ‘ghost grid’ of private wires and server warehouses. While the environmental costs and the drain on the national grid are felt locally, the profits flow straight to global tech giants. We must ask if it is right to sacrifice a strategic green corridor for an industrialised sprawl that offers so little in return for the community.”

Dr Kat Jones, director of APRS said:

“Lanarkshire, and particularly Chapelhall, has the dubious accolade of having been named Scotland’s AI Growth Zone. And as such it is under intense pressure from developers. We have already seen ancient oaks taken down on Green Belt to clear space for the extension to the current data centre site, and the size of the two sites linked to the hyperscale AI data centre buildings are enormous, 280 acres in total, mainly on Green Belt land.

“This development will have a massive impact on our greenhouse emissions, energy use, and put huge pressure on the grid. With the development being pushed forward by the UK Government there is a national interest in transparency around exactly what the development will comprise, and our research shows that there could be many individual applications linked with this development and even more related to the energy infrastructure they plan to build. With different elements of the development decided at local authority, Scottish Government and UK Government levels we have written to all three to ask for coordination and transparency on all the developments linked with the AI Growth Zone.”

Press Enquiries

For press enquiries please call 0131 2257012 and press 1

NOTES

The full report is available at: www.aprs.scot/chapelhall-ai-growth-zone/

Woodhall Faskine and Palacecraig Conservation Group have been campaigning for a decade to protect their green belt which lies between Calderbank, Chapelhall and Airdrie and recently had the developers appeal for a huge development which would cover about 150 hectares of Green belt turned down. 

You can read about their campaign here and about the recent refusal of the developer’s appeal here.

APRS is Scotland’s Countryside Charity, and you can read more about our work here.

Help Support Our Campaign!

Unbelievable as it may seem we are an charity with just three part-time staff and are doing this campaign on an absolute shoestring. If you can help support us we would be very grateful! Thanks! Kat

Read the letters sent:

Read the letters received: