Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), 22-26 Whitehall,  London, SW1A 2EG

correspondence@dsit.gov.uk 

4 May 2026

Dear Sir or Madam,

Re: Transparency over the extent of developments comprising the North Lanarkshire AI Growth Zone  

We are writing to you, along with Woodhall, Faskine and Palacecraig Conservation Group, regarding the Lanarkshire AI Growth Zone. We have used the North Lanarkshire and ECU Planning Portals to look at the extent of developments we believe to be linked to the AI Growth Zone, but we realise this may not be the full extent of the plans. The report currently excludes elements such as the ‘onsite renewables’ that your press release noted, and which the developer’s website calls ‘private wire’ renewables.

Given the ambitions for the private wire or onsite renewables that Data Vita have: 800MW wind, 400MW+ of solar and 1400MWh of BESS, this is likely to take up a huge area of many hundreds of hectares. The two large Green Belt sites we have identified, which we assume is where the recently announced 500 MW data centre buildings will be, cover 212 hectares in total, so the impact on this area of North Lanarkshire could be enormous.

It is very unclear, at present, what the AI Growth Zone actually is, the extent of it, and what benefits it will bring to the area, given that the claim of 3400 jobs has shown, after an FoI, that only 10% of that number would be jobs in the data centre, and that even that figure came from an estimate from a Northumberland developer.  

At present planning and consent applications are coming in one by one, some to the local authority and some to the Energy Consents Unit at Scottish Government. It is impossible for local people or civil society to understand what is happening in, what is a development of national interest. We have done our best in the report on  our website (aprs.scot/chapelhall-ai-growth-zone) to bring together what we know about proposed developments in the area of Chapelhall and Calderbank that may be connected with the AI Growth Zone. However this is likely to be incomplete.

We have written to the Local Authority and the Energy Consents Unit of the Scottish Government to ask that they bring together a map of all the many developments which comprise the DataVita AI Growth Zone which will help. But there are some questions that we think DSIT is in the best position to answer.

Firstly could you clarify the extent of the AI Growth Zone and where its boundaries lie and whether the Lanarkshire AI Growth Zone relates only to the Data Vita developments as referenced in the UK Government’s announcement or if other proposed data centre developments in North Lanarkshire, or even South Lanarkshire are included, or might in future be included, under the AI Growth Zone umbrella? We note ILI has plans for a hyperscale data centre adjacent to one of the DataVita growth zone sites and that there are at least three other plans for hyperscale data centres in the rest of Lanarkshire. Will these have access to the same advantages as DataVita or are they excluded?

The UK Government announcement of the AI Growth zone came with reference to ‘Strong links with universities and businesses to open new collaborations, as the delivery of dozens of apprenticeships to support the next generation of Scottish AI talent.’ What levers does the UK Government have to ensure that these are delivered and that the AI Innovation Park, which is so glossily presented on the DataVita website, happens, and it is not just the 500MW Data Centres and vast amounts of energy infrastructure that are built? What UK Government funding is going into supporting this?

We believe that, for a development of national interest, there should be transparency around the plans, developments, benefits to local people and funding, to understand what the AI Growth Zone would mean for their area, and for Scotland, and so that the sum total of the development can be scrutinised for its impact on the environment, our climate targets, water resources, and communities.

We would value a meeting to discuss the above request.

Yours sincerely,

Kat Jones, Director, APRS

Diane Davidson, Secretary Woodhall, Faskine and Palacecraig Conservation Group