We are seeking urgent funding to scale up a campaign we have started on data centres in Scotland. It is very urgent as there are data centres now in the Scottish planning system that have a energy demand equivalent to the maximum demand of the whole of Scotland. None of these planning applications have yet been decided so this is a key point to campaign.

We have good reason to believe that local authorities are likely, under the present situation, to pass these data centres, for a few reasons:

1. because data centres have a special position in the Scottish planning framework

Data Centres are a National Priority in the National Planning Framework- see more info here

2. because most are not being required to provide an Environmental Impact assessment

3. because there is no mechanism in local planning decision making for dealing with developments that have major impact beyond the local authority.

For example the impacts on the grid, energy and climate.

Once planning documents go online, communities have a period of 21 days to respond (including holidays and weekends – developers often put applications in over Christmas as the time includes holidays). Very rarely they will extend the period for very large developments of thousands of houses for example.

There are six planning applications already in planning portals with scoping EIAs or at pre planning stage and the applications could come in at any time. One has already closed to objections. None have been decided yet. So we need to ramp up this campaign immediately before decisions are made.

Our strategy

Our strategy is to work on the issue of data centres by using our experience and knowledge of the planning system in Scotland. This is central to this work because it is through the planning system that these data centres will get consent. We need two elements to the campaign:

Firstly at a national level:

We need to persuade the Scottish Government to deal with issues in the National Planning Framework 4 that make data centres a National Priority, thereby giving them a privileged position in the planning system. This will involve a strict definition of ‘green data centre’ and taking data centres out of NPF4 National Priority 12: National Fibre Network. It will also involve raising issues for energy, the grid and net zero and change government policy on data centres, putting data centres in schedule1 of the EIA regulations, and ensuring that impact on net zero, energy and water use are included in decision making on data centres.

And second, locally:

We need to oppose each data centre as it comes through the planning system. To do this effectively we need to raise awareness of where the application are coming in and to mobilising many hundreds of people to object to these data centres. This needs a map-based way of objecting to planning applications that come in, working directly with local authorities, and a lot of awareness raising.Up until now APRS has been doing this off the side of the (part time) Director’s desk but we will need to ramp up action if we are to be effective at stopping this imminent threat to our net zero targets. We want to bring in others in the NGO community in Scotland to form a coalition on this work and so that each organisation can work to their strengths. At present we are keeping our fellow NGOs in the loop and we are connected with Global Justice Now who are working on campaigning on ‘Big Tech’ at UK and international levels, and we are in touch with foxglove who campaign internationally on tech issues. We hope they can bring in the bigger context to the work we are doing and bring more people into the campaign. Going forward we can imagine that more NGOs will join in Scotland but we also need resource in Scotland to work on data centres.

Why APRS

I have written about why a countryside charity is working on data centres. In brief APRS’s mission for Scotland’s countryside and landscapes has always meant that we have worked on a wide variety of campaigns – most recently litter and Scotland’s Deposit Return scheme, National Parks, Green Belts and public access. We are now working on data centres, because of the huge implications they have for our renewable energy targets and net zero due to the mind-boggling amounts of energy they use.

We are members of SCCS and LINK and part of a cross-NGO group for communications leads and we found ourselves stepping up to give quotes on data centres in the media, as no other Scottish NGOs were working on them. So we decided to start a campaign. It is also that a large part of the issue is related to planning – data centres’ position within the National Planning framework, and the fact that they will need to go through local authorities’ planning processes to get permission. And planning is what APRS specialise in.

What do we need for this work?

We need a minimum of a planning post – to be able to respond to the issues in the timescale needed, we need a minimum of a post for a specialist Planner (preferably RTPI):

• to keep a public database up to date of the applications coming in
• to offer bespoke advice to communities working on objecting to data centres near them
• to write example Objections for each development being planned and to submit Objections from APRS and to encourage other NGOs to Object
• to set up a map of sites being planned and a quick method of people being able to object. This will need additional funding to create – the idea would be to have one like the Living Rent map https://www.livingrent.org/stlobjector
• to bring together other NGOs to also object to the centres and coordinate out work in the area of planning campaigning
• to deliver training/webinars for communities and NGOs and to write guidance for objecting to data centers
• to advise on changes to NPF4 and scottish government policy on data centres

In addition we need Parliamentary advocacy:

This would be best done through a consultant we have worked with before who is extremely familiar with the Parliament and worked with us on the deposit return scheme. We would need one day a week for six months as a start.

Ideally the wider project would be about mobilising people to campaign on this and liaise with England and Wales on their work, which would need dedicated staff time- a campaigner and coordinator.

Budget

For a Budget I have done a budget at the size of project we would ideally have for a year. However with any amount of money we can pay for consultancy – so any multiple of about £600 pays for a day of consultancy and I may be able to find a consultant planner to also work with us to make the project smaller – or employ someone only a couple of days a week. Essentially any amount of money will make a difference. These costs do not include the costs of our office, IT infrastructure (online and real) and management of the project which will just come from our core resources (which are stretched but I don’t want to add to what looks like a large amount of money).  

Kat