Scotland needs AI data centres, but first it needs a coherent plan - Lorna Slater
Scotland has always embraced innovation. From shipbuilding to semiconductors, we have never been afraid to build the industries of the future.
Data centres will undoubtedly play an important role in our economy for decades to come.
They support businesses, public services, research and the digital technology we all rely on every day.
But there is a world of difference between sensible investment and an uncontrolled rush to build some of the biggest hyperscale data centres Europe has ever seen.
Across Scotland, communities are being presented with proposals for centres on a scale that would have been unimaginable only a few years ago. These are not ordinary industrial developments. They consume extraordinary amounts of electricity and water, occupy vast areas of land, and place significant demands on local infrastructure.
If every proposal currently on the table were approved, they would require around one and a half times Scotland’s current peak electricity demand. That simple fact should give everyone pause.
This is not an argument against technology. It is an argument for planning. Scotland deserves a coherent national strategy that decides where these developments belong, how many our energy network can realistically support, and what environmental standards they should meet. At the moment, that framework simply does not exist.
Instead, councils are being left to determine applications one by one, without clear national guidance and without any meaningful way of considering the combined impact of dozens of separate proposals.
Edinburgh’s Scottish Green councillors recognised this problem early. They have successfully argued for a halt to approving new hyperscale data centre applications until proper planning guidance is in place.
It is a sensible, measured position. No responsible planning authority should be forced to make decisions of national significance without the tools to do so.
The same concerns are now being echoed by councils across Scotland. That is why pressure is growing on the Scottish Government to introduce a nationwide pause while it develops dedicated planning guidance. Encouragingly, the First Minister has begun to acknowledge these concerns and has confirmed that the Government is considering issuing new guidance for councils.
That is welcome progress, but guidance alone is not enough if applications continue to arrive faster than the rules governing them.
Communities deserve certainty. Developers deserve certainty too. Nobody benefits from confusion, inconsistent decision making or planning battles that could have been avoided through clear national leadership.
Even the United Nations Secretary General has warned that AI data centres are “hungry for land, water and power”, calling on technology companies to be transparent about their environmental impacts. Scotland should be listening.
We have worked too hard to build a renewable energy system that benefits people and the planet to allow decisions of this magnitude to happen by accident. The cumulative impact on our electricity network, our climate ambitions and our local communities must be properly understood before irreversible decisions are made.
This is not about saying no to investment. It is about saying yes to the right investment, in the right places, under the right rules.
Scotland can absolutely be a leader in digital technology and artificial intelligence. But leadership means planning ahead, not leaving councils to pick up the pieces of a national policy vacuum.
Taking the time to get these decisions right today will ensure Scotland’s digital future is built on solid foundations, rather than rushed approvals we may come to regret tomorrow.