Minister vows new guidance on AI data centre plans as MSPs reject calls for moratorium

Public finance minister Hannah Mary Goodlad made a commitment on Wednesday that guidance for planning authorities to apply when considering applications for data centres would be in place within three months.

The minister made the commitment at Holyrood as MSPs rejected a Green motion calling for a moratorium on all developments of this kind to be put in place to allow for guidelines to be developed.

MSPs had been urged to back the motion by Green MSP Patrick Harvie for a moratorium and to “press pause” on planned hyperscale data centres, including one proposed for Auchtertool.

Speaking for the Scottish Parliament, Ms Goodlad said: “We do not agree there should be a moratorium.

"That is not necessary, it is not appropriate. It would send the wrong message to anyone looking to invest in Scotland.

"We are committed to coming back before Christmas with guidelines that will give business but also communities confidence in this.”

After hearing from the minister, Holyrood voted by 72 votes for 32 with 16 abstentions for a government amendment to the Green motion, which pledged the “swift creation of national planning and spatial guidance by the end of the year for the determination of conditions under which data centre development should be permitted.”

Ms Goodlad said it is “highly unlikely” decisions on any planned data centres would be made by local councils before the guidance is produced.

Mr Harvie however argued that the new guidance would not be enough to prevent applications for hyperscale data centres from being considered by local authorities on a “piecemeal basis”.

The Green MSP said: “Planning guidance on its own is never going to be enough to enable local authorities to decide the overall level of data infrastructure Scotland needs.”

The debate took place amid growing concerns from communities across Scotland about the impact of new data centres on their local areas, including a proposal by the ILI Group to build the £5bn Cato centre on land next to the village of Auchtertool.

The plans have generated an unprecedented number of objections – over 1200 comments have been posted on Fife Council’s planning portal; more than 2500 people signed a petition calling for a moratorium and 8000 have signed a petition against the Auchtertool centre in particular.

Wednesday’s debate took place after the public finance minister announced that environmental impact assessments will be required for all planned date centres with a capacity of 50 megawatts or above.

Announcing the change – which will apply to new applications and those already in the system – Ms Goodland said data centres “are a rapidly evolving sector” and evidence about their impact on the environment continues to develop.

A Labour amendment, which stressed that no planning decisions should be taken before guidance has been developed was also passed by Holyrood.

Dr Kat Jones, director of Action to Protect Rural Scotland, which has led protests against planned data centres, hailed the result as a “landmark day for all those communities across Scotland who have been extremely concerned about projects coming forward in their areas”.

She added: “There’s much still to be done but this is a huge step forward and we can all at least take a breath now.

“The Scottish Greens have been working tirelessly to see a pause in planning decisions until there is a proper national strategy in place, and Scottish Labour have played a huge role today in getting this over the line.

“It’s great that Scottish ministers and the Parliament as a whole have now endorsed text that says no decisions on planning or consenting should be made until that guidance and strategy is complete.

“That means Scottish Government must now urgently call in those applications which are approaching a decision date. The communities will expect nothing less.”