An East Ayrshire councillor has strongly criticised suggestions that planning decisions on AI data centres should be taken out of the hands of local authorities. Labour Councillor Barry Douglas hit out at the lack of information given to the community about a planned 540MW ‘green’ data centre near Hurlford, calling for a moratorium until councils are given clear guidance, particularly on what constitutes a ‘green’ facility.
Opposition to Removing Council Authority
Councillor Douglas opposed any move to strip councils of their planning role for data centres, arguing that it would reduce local accountability and fail to address the real issues facing planners. His comments came after Sandy Begbie, chief executive of Scottish Financial Enterprise, called for AI data centres to be designated as critical national infrastructure, with planning decisions transferred from councils to the Scottish Government.
Writing in Scotland on Sunday, Mr Begbie argued the developments were “of national importance for economic growth, resilience and security” and should be removed from what he described as “petty point scoring politics”. Councillor Douglas hit back, calling the proposal a ‘terrible idea’.
Call for Clearer Guidance
“What’s needed is not a lack of local accountability that would come with any proposals to remove councils as the planning authority for AI Data Centres, but instead proper guidance from the Scottish Government on what actually constitutes a ‘Green’ Data Centre,” Councillor Douglas said. “Unless and until such clear guidance is provided by the SNP Government at Holyrood there should be a moratorium on such applications being determined.”
The Labour councillor raised these concerns at the last meeting of East Ayrshire Council before the summer recess, where the council agreed to call for a moratorium. He described recent comments by Scottish ministers and the First Minister on what constitutes a “green” data centre as “a bit alarming”. “Putting green in front of something does not make it such,” he added.
Support for National Moratorium
Councillor Douglas said he admired Edinburgh City Council for calling for a nationwide moratorium on hyperscale data centre applications and proposed East Ayrshire should similarly ask the Scottish Government to pause decisions until ministers had produced clearer guidance. He also argued that planners increasingly face highly technical applications requiring specialist expertise and said clearer national guidance was needed before councils could make informed decisions.
First Minister’s Response
First Minister John Swinney has acknowledged the concerns of councils and said he is looking at the possibility of national guidance. However, he also said he was examining the balance between national guidance and local discretion and whether councils are the “appropriate” decision making body for data centres.
Speaking during First Minister’s Questions last month, Mr Swinney said ministers were giving “active consideration” to issuing national planning guidance to balance the rapid expansion of hyperscale data centres with Scotland’s energy and climate goals. He acknowledged concerns from planning authorities that councils were being asked to determine applications without sufficient national guidance and said the Government would also consider whether developments of this scale should continue to be decided locally.
Mr Swinney added that once renewables applications reach a certain scale, they are automatically deferred to Scottish Ministers. While stopping short of backing a moratorium on applications, Mr Swinney said ministers would examine the issue as a matter of priority, including the relationship between local decision-making, national planning policy and Scotland’s future energy needs.
