Fury is mounting over new bids for vast AI data centres across Scotland, with developers accused of “Olympic-level greenwashing”. A planning application for a “300MW hyperscale site” in Larbert, Stirlingshire, was published this month amid fierce local protest. It came a week after a bid for a 600MW centre bigger than 50 football pitches outside Auchtertool, Fife, was made public.
Local Opposition and Campaigns
Apatura, which is behind the Larbert scheme, was last week mocked over an industry “charter” it helped produce on how the sites – which guzzle huge amounts of electricity – can be made sustainable and “green”. Research by Action to Protect Rural Scotland (APRS) has claimed that if all 16 large data centres currently in planning went ahead, their energy use would be 1.5 times greater than peak winter demand for the whole of Scotland.
Dr Kat Jones, APRS director, said: “People don’t want Scotland to become a dumping ground for these huge AI data centres. They’re gigantic with some using the energy of two cities. I think it’s Olympic-level greenwashing. You can’t just have a few data centre developers coming together and writing themselves a charter so they can build whatever they want. This feels like a modern-day land grab. It’s really about creating developments where the benefits flow to the big US tech giants.”
Tasha Marsden, who helped launch the Say No to Larbert Data Centre campaign last week, said: “They can’t even tell us what these mystical jobs are. How can we trust them?” She said within 24 hours, their Facebook campaign had gathered around 400 objections against the bid. As of yesterday, total objections on the council portal numbered nearly 800.
Job Creation Claims Questioned
Many data centres are privately funded by major investment firms and US tech giants including Google and Microsoft. We previously told how the UK Government was accused of producing “fantasy” jobs figures for Scottish data centre sites. Apatura claims the Larbert project will create 5000 construction jobs and a further 500 local roles once the site is operational.
Dr Jones said the typical data centre employs 20-50 people. She added: “I find it difficult to work out how the narrative, certainly from politicians, has become all about investment equals jobs equals growth. This kind of AI investment is really just importing chips that are made elsewhere like Taiwan. And these sites are all about processing data for AI models – one of the factors creating a massive reduction in graduate-level jobs and jobs for young people. That is definitely not good for our economy.”
Community Concerns
Michael Maciocia, a retired Larbert local, said there was a “huge amount of anger” in the town over the plans amid claims many nearby residents weren’t properly consulted. He said: “There are people who are literally direct neighbours of the development who only found out about it last week. Within 10 metres of the boundary, there’s an old people’s home with 56 beds. Within a mile radius, there’s probably the better part of 15-20,000 people. The construction traffic is also the emergency route for the Forth Valley Royal Hospital.”
Apatura said the site will help meet “Scotland’s growing demand for secure, sustainable data capacity” and combine “cutting-edge digital capability with low-carbon design”.
