MSPs returning to the Scottish parliament next week will be greeted by campaigners from across Scotland gathering to demand a moratorium on new data centre approvals and much stricter scrutiny of planning applications for the power-hungry facilities.
The rally on Thursday 3 September was announced yesterday in a letter to Scottish first minister John Swinney and signed by 14 campaign groups concerned about plans for data centres in each of their communities.
Countryside charity Action to Protect Rural Scotland (APRS), which is supporting the rally, tracks data centre planning applications. Its latest update from 13 August found 20 data centres in planning and pre-planning stages, together adding up to 7GW of energy demand, with at least three more yet to reach the planning system.
“It is clear that a moratorium on hyperscale AI data centres has huge public support across Scotland, and across all political parties,” said APRS director Kat Jones.
“When the parliament starts up again next week, all eyes will be on what the first minister has to say about it.”
Polluting back-up diesel generators
In their letter to Swinney, the campaign groups said they were concerned about the sheer size of the planned facilities, the amount of energy they’ll need and the burden that will place on Scotland’s grid. That is in addition to the noise they emit, the water they’ll use and the pollution from vast arrays of back-up diesel generators they’ll need, among other concerns.
As well as an immediate moratorium on approvals, the letter calls on the Scottish government to:
- require that all hyperscale data centres be subject to environmental impact assessments that include power and water consumption;
- order an independent assessment of the need for hyperscale data centres in Scotland and their impacts on communities, land, water, the power grid and climate commitments;
- fully investigate risks to health and safety, including the effects of backup generators, diesel storage, impaired electricity supply, pollution and noise;
- require all hyperscale data centres to submit full planning applications and not just applications for planning permission in principle.
‘Not against technology’
“We are not against technology and the benefits that it brings,” the letter says.
“In fact, the UK supercomputer being built on University of Edinburgh land and the Edinburgh University supercomputer are examples of where publicly funded data centres are bringing huge benefits in the case of ground-breaking research, including in the medical field, as well as supporting huge numbers of jobs, and studentships, in research and development.
“But this is not what these hyperscale AI data centres are. They are 10-15 times bigger … and will be run by the US tech giants who need them for training and running AI models. The impact of these large language models on safety online, creating deepfake videos, replacing jobs and being used by illegal elements to hack is of a huge concern to us. We need the government to start distinguishing between different types of data centres and identify whether they will bring benefits to Scotland.”
Government taking note
There are signs the Scottish government is taking note of public concern.
Last Monday (17 August), public finance minister Hannah Mary Goodlad said planning authorities must now notify Scottish ministers of new applications for data centres exceeding 50MW of power capacity within seven days of validation.
This would allow “strategic monitoring” of the pipeline of such applications and their wider implications.
Goodlad also said she had recalled a planning appeal for ministerial decision relating to a proposed data centre in Edinburgh, and ordered environmental impact assessments for data centres in Fife and Edinburgh.
“We must balance the economic and employment interests in developing data centres with national energy, climate and community wealth building ambitions, which are vital to our future prosperity, as well as the potential impact on local communities,” the minister said.
“It is essential to secure public benefits from this type of development, and I am clear that voices of communities that will be affected will be central to any considerations on data centres.”
