Large data centre proposals in Scotland, from pre-application notices to live planning applications and appeals, plus the sites already operating. Each entry shows its council planning record, where one exists, and its other sources by type, so every claim can be checked against more than one publisher.
Circle area scales with MW. Hollow rings have no published capacity. Positions are approximate (town or estate level).
Proposed, in progress and stalled
Schemes from first announcement through to a lodged application, plus those under construction, refused or stalled. Most are large AI campuses still at pre-application, and together they would add many times today's operating capacity.
Operating
Data centres running in Scotland today, mostly colocation, bank and research sites in the Central Belt, Aberdeen and Dundee. Most are small; the largest, DataVita DV1 at Chapelhall, is about 24MW.
Planning and policy timeline
How sources are graded
Each entry lists every source we used, labelled by who published it. An entry counts as corroborated when at least two different publishers report it and at least one of them is not a campaign group or a commercial directory.
GovernmentScottish or UK Government, Parliament, the planning appeals division (DPEA), NESO
CouncilLocal authority planning portal records, news or committee papers. Planning records were searched on each council's portal for "data centre" on 18 Oct 2026.
NoticeStatutory planning notices published in local papers
OperatorThe operator's or developer's own website or press release
NewsNewspapers, broadcasters and trade press
CampaignCampaign groups and petitions, including the APRS tracker
DirectoryCommercial data centre listings and property agents
Some news sites block automated link checks, but every link here was found through search and checked on 18 Oct 2026; none returned "not found".
Application 26/01110/PPP lodged 03 Sep 2026; awaiting the council's decision. Decisions on data centres of 50 MW or more are paused for up to 12 months while national guidance is drafted (expected by December 2026).
Red: nearest building within 100 m, 10% or more of the site in a flood zone, or a designation overlapping the site. Amber: building within 500 m, any flood-zone overlap, or a designation within 500 m. Green: none of these. Measured from the council's application site; buildings from OpenStreetMap, flood zones from SEPA, designations from NatureScot and Historic Environment Scotland.
Overview
Inside the Lanarkshire AI Growth Zone. About £849.6m over two years, 120 permanent jobs, target PUE under 1.25, closed-loop cooling and HVO-fuelled generators.
The developer's case
Presented as the next phase of DataVita's Chapelhall campus inside the Lanarkshire AI Growth Zone, with closed-loop cooling and HVO-fuelled backup. DataVitaData Centre Review
At the 1.6 per MW study averageabout 192for 120 MW
Claimed jobs per MW1.0
This scheme's claim1.0
Industry modeltechUK, based on older, smaller sites8.5
Planned UK sitesVerdant study of 20 schemes, 20261.6
QTS Cambois, Northumberland720 MW, about 400 jobs0.56
Permanent jobs per megawatt of capacity. This claim is below the study's average for planned sites.
Construction jobs are real but temporary. Figures for "job-years", "jobs supported" or "indirect" jobs count work elsewhere in the economy, not people on site. The per-MW measure comes from the think tank Verdant; techUK says it misses jobs supported outside the site, and the UK Government calls it misleading. The Next WebResultsense
The opening lines summarise in our own words how the developer presents the scheme. Items marked Claim are the developer's own figures, not independently checked.
The objectors' case
Objectors' most common concerns are health, noise, wildlife and trees, the character of the surrounding area and energy use.
formal objections51
Most raised in objections
76% Health and wellbeing
69% Noise
69% Wildlife, trees and nature
69% Village and community character
64% Energy use and the grid
Share of sampled objections written in people's own words that mention each issue. See Public response below for the method.
The opening lines summarise in our own words how objectors present their case. Campaign claims get the same checks as the developer's figures. Petition signatures are not verified as local and are not formal objections to the council.
Site and surroundings
Loading map layers…
Site centreResidentialIndustrial / commercialWoodlandRiver floodSurface water floodCoastal floodSSSI / SAC / SPAAncient woodlandHeritage designationListed buildingSchool, care or healthPower line250 m · 500 m · 1 km from the site centre
Over 50MW, the council must notify Scottish Ministers within seven days of validating an application (in force since 17 Aug 2026). Scottish Government
Over 50MW, an Environmental Impact Assessment is now mandatory (Direction of 16 Sep 2026), including for applications already in the system. Scottish Government
On 16 Sep 2026 MSPs backed pausing planning decisions on large data centres for up to 12 months while national guidance is drafted, expected by December 2026. Resultsense
100% of comments that took a side were against. From the public comments tab of 26/01110/PPP, read 19 Oct 2026. The analysis below reads the published comments themselves.
Concerns reported
Campaigners call the environmental assessment inadequate Data Centre Review
Height and plant near homes (plans revised) Urban Realm
Case made for it
£849.6m investment and 120 permanent jobs; £75m community fund Data Centre Review
Issues as reported in news and campaign coverage, not a count of comments.
What the objections say
Automated reading of all 42 distinct objections published on North Lanarkshire Council's comments page for 26/01110/PPP (53 comments on record; some are duplicates or have no text), read 20 Oct 2026. No names, addresses or quotes are shown.
None of the objections are copies of a shared template; each was written individually.
Issues raised in their own words (42 individually written objections)
Health and wellbeing76%
Noise69%
Wildlife, trees and nature69%
Village and community character69%
Energy use and the grid64%
Water use64%
Landscape, scale and visual impact64%
Backup generators and air quality52%
Climate and emissions52%
Traffic and construction52%
Countryside and greenfield land50%
Light pollution43%
Planning process, EIA and consultation41%
Flooding and drainage33%
Jobs and employment26%
Bills and energy costs5%
Heritage (Hallyards Castle)2%
How firmly they object
Asks for refusal50%
Asks for a pause, EIA or more information36%
Suggests conditions or alternatives17%
Median length: 324 words written individually, 324 words for the template.
1 general comments on file (all read). Topics: noise, energy use and the grid, bills and energy costs, landscape, scale and visual impact, wildlife, trees and nature.
Method. Issues and firmness are detected with a published keyword list, so a comment counts if it mentions the issue at all; this shows what people raised, not whether the claims are right. An automated tone score (VADER) was tested and rejected: it rated formal objection letters as positive, so it would mislead. Stance comes from the council's own classification of each comment.
Statutory consultees
15 consulted, 4 responded. Including: Environmental Health (including Pollution Control) · Scottish Power Environmental Planning · Coal Mining Remediation Authority · NLC Climate Change Team · NLC Greenspace · Traffic & Transportation · Estates Team · Scottish Water · NLC Water Management Team · Scottish Environment Protection Agency
