Scottish police have warned that a proposed datacentre in Larbert, about 30 miles west of Edinburgh, will require “robust security measures” to prevent “incursion” amid growing public resistance to such developments in Scotland.
In a letter submitted as part of a planning consultation earlier this month, the police said “a great deal of public opposition is likely” to the development. The letter encouraged the site’s developer, Apatura, to liaise with the police to “prevent unplanned incursions for the purposes of disruption”.
Official acknowledgment of unease
The letter appears to be one of the first official acknowledgments of mounting public unease about datacentre development in the UK. The Scottish police declined to comment.
There are hundreds of datacentre projects in various stages of planning in Britain. Only some appear to be viable, with research groups warning of a glut of “zombie projects” waiting to connect to the grid. In Scotland, at least 23 “hyperscale” datacentre developments are in the planning process, according to the Edinburgh-based charity Action to Protect Rural Scotland (APRS). Combined, they would use more than one and a half times the power that Scotland uses at peak demand.
Local opposition and protests
Groups across Scotland have started organising opposition to planned datacentres. A protest in Larbert on Thursday drew over 100 people, according to local campaigners. Nearly 7,000 people have filed objections to the proposed development.
Similar protests are planned in the coming weeks, including one in Edinburgh in early September, when the Scottish parliament will be back in session. This summer, the Scottish National party passed a motion to freeze all new datacentres in Scotland. If that motion becomes Scottish government policy, it could pose a serious threat to the UK’s AI strategy.
Health and environmental concerns
Some opposition is about the physical footprint of the projects. Michael Maciocia, a Larbert resident who attended Thursday’s protest, said he and others were worried about the 200 diesel generators that Apatura planned to install as backup power. APRS is concerned that these could release significant quantities of nitrous oxide, which could negatively affect the health of nearby residents.
“Where this datacentre is planned to be built, within 50 metres of one of the buildings is a 56-bed care home for the terminally ill … Within 400 metres, there’s the 860-bed Fulton Valley Royal hospital,” said Maciocia. “The amount of pollution and the noise created by these things will be horrendous in every direction.”
Hazel McQueen, who says she lives extremely close to the proposed site, said the application has become a huge part of her life. She is concerned for the health of her family, including her grandson who has leukaemia. “I need to fight this for his future and the future we are leaving for him.”
Symbolic dimension
Cecilia Rikap, a professor at University College London, said there is a larger, symbolic dimension to public anger around datacentre development. “It’s the physical manifestation of AI, and there is a growing opposition to AI. People are seeing how AI is replacing the good part of their work, people are seeing how AI is undermining younger people’s capacity to think,” she said. “Ultimately, if you want to protest against generative AI or the role of big tech, you would protest at a datacentre. That’s what you can see. All the rest is much more invisible.”
Apatura has been approached for comment.
