The Scottish Government has today made an announcement on hyperscale data centres. All planning authorities will be required to notify the Scottish Government when they receive an application for a data centre over 50MW. The Government has also called in the Edinburgh Gyle decision and will require developers of proposed hyperscale data centres in Auchtertool and Wester Hemiston in Edinburgh to produce Environmental Impact Assessments.
This was covered in:
- The National: Scottish Government intervenes in AI data centre boom
- Edinburgh Live Decision on Edinburgh data centre building to be made by Scottish Government
- Central Fife Times Government say environmental impact assessment required for Auchtertool data centre
- Daily Mail Now SNP back rules to monitor the march of large AI data centres… but not a moratorium
- BBC Scotland Lunchtime Live (19 Aug)
Kat Jones, Director of APRS said:
“Common sense has, at last, prevailed. The Scottish Government has realised that the fact that they have no information about hyperscale data centres in the planning pipeline is a serious issue. Knowing what is proposed, and where, is critical to start to get a handle of the speculative wave of hyperscale data centre applications, so this the start of the information that the Scottish Government needs to start gathering. When we first brought to their attention, back in December, that the energy demands of data centres in the planning pipeline would double Scotland’s peak power demand we expected them to ask for this information straight away, it shouldn’t have really needed a ten-month campaign for this to happen. Today we are celebrating that the process of getting a sensible approach to this situation is beginning.
“The Government are now requiring an EIA for Auchtertool and for West Edinburgh/Hermiston data centres, which is obviously fantastic news for the local campaigners, and we would like to see this for all proposed hyperscale data centres incl;uding those that have been screened out of EIAs (two at Ravenscraig, Coldstream and Chapelhall).
“All in all we are delighted that the Government is starting to listen to us, and to the community campaigners. We are encouraged that this is the start of the process to properly look into the impacts that hyperscale data centres will have on our grid, our communities and our climate targets. Certainly the fact that Hannah Mary Goodlad has called in the Edinburgh Gyle data centre is positive because we believe it could be the start of an effective pause on planning applications so that the Scottish Government have the time to do the research and put national planning policies in place.”
“This announcement comes in the context of our Scottish Parliament petition which has now gathered more than 18,000 signatures, we hope that the Scottish Government will now address the wider things it calls for.”
Sarah Matthews & Gordon Fraser, West Edinburgh Community Campaign Against AI Data Centres, said:
“This is an important moment for residents of West Edinburgh. For months, our concern has been that a development of this extraordinary scale was being assessed without the level of environmental scrutiny normally expected for a major industrial project.
“A 200MW AI data centre is not simply another warehouse. It requires massive quantities of electricity, massive water for cooling and supporting infrastructure, large-scale diesel backup generation and permanently occupies 30.5 hectares of greenbelt and prime food producing land. The requirement for an Environmental Impact Assessment means that these issues must now be examined properly, transparently and on the basis of evidence.
“We welcome the Scottish Government’s intervention and will continue to scrutinise the evidence as the planning process progresses.”
Andrea Cail, Chair of Auchtertool community council said:
“Our community fully welcomes the Scottish Government’s request for a full Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of the hyperscale data centre proposed for Auchtertool.
“Given the significant impact the data centre would undoubtedly have on our local and national environment, and the shocking amount of energy and water it would consume, village residents, alongside thousands of other objectors to the proposals, have campaigned for months against Fife Council’s initial decision not to request an EIA from the developers.
“While this is a welcome step, many issues with the proposals remain outstanding and we are very concerned for the village’s future if this development goes ahead. The planning environment for data centres in Scotland is currently a wild west, with opportunistic developers attempting to push through huge-scale sites with little scrutiny and no legislation to support communities like Auchtertool.
“We remain closely aligned with other communities, campaign groups and representatives across the country in calling for a Scotland-wide pause on all hyperscale data centre developments until proper, appropriate and supportive planning guidance is issued.”
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