Campaigners reveal concerns over data centre ‘greengrab’ of land

Campaigners are calling for greater transparency around possible plans to expand Scotland’s only AI growth zone on green belt land, amid fears it could result in a “greengrab” of land.

A report by the countryside charity Action to Protect Rural Scotland (APRS) said there were a “number of sites” linked to Data Vita – which already has a site in the heart of the AI growth zone in Lanarkshire.

APRS, which has spoken out against data centres, has now raised concerns about the prospect of future plans around the site of the AI growth zone.

The UK Government has already said the AI growth zone, which is backed with more than £8bn of private investment, could create some 3,400 jobs over the coming years.

However, concerns have already been raised about data centres, with opponents pointing to their high energy use while also claiming such sites create fewer jobs than promised.

APRS has now highlighted other proposals – some of which are in the pre-planning process – for data centres and battery storage facilities near the Data Vita site in Lanarkshire.

With some of these said to be in green belt land – where there is usually a “strong presumption” against development – APRS warned: “It is clear that the AI growth zone will take up a huge area and have a very large impact on the character of the surrounding area.”

The charity said it had “found a number of sites linked with Data Vita in the area where we believe the AI growth zone is planned”.

An APRS report added: “These sites cover a huge area – over 100 hectares for the two largest sites – mainly in the green belt.”

Diane Davidson, secretary of local group the Woodhall Faskine and Palacecraig Conservation Group, said its members had campaigned for a decade “to protect the integrity of the green belt, proving it is a vital ecological and community asset”.

However, she said local land owners, such as farmers, were now facing “immense pressure to ‘cash in’ to developers” looking to be part of the AI growth zone.

Speaking out against such projects, Ms Davidson said: “This isn’t genuine economic growth, it is a ‘greengrab’ at the expense of productive farmland and essential wildlife corridors.”

With different developments proposed, she added that “this sliced-up approach is disguising the true size of the picture and doesn’t allow it the full scrutiny it deserves”.

Ms Davidson added: “This project undermines North Lanarkshire’s own biodiversity policies, replacing carbon-sinking soil and protected habitats with a ‘ghost grid’ of private wires and server warehouses.

“While the environmental costs and the drain on the national grid are felt locally, the profits flow straight to global tech giants.

“We must ask if it is right to sacrifice a strategic green corridor for an industrialised sprawl that offers so little in return for the community.”

Dr Kat Jones, director of APRS, said: “Lanarkshire, and particularly Chapelhall, has the dubious accolade of having been named Scotland’s AI growth zone. And, as such, it is under intense pressure from developers.

“We have already seen ancient oaks taken down on green belt to clear space for the extension to the current data centre site and the size of the two sites linked to the hyperscale AI data centre buildings are enormous, 280 acres in total, mainly on green belt land.

“This development will have a massive impact on our greenhouse emissions, energy use and put huge pressure on the grid.”

She continued: “There is a national interest in transparency around exactly what the development will comprise and our research shows that there could be many individual applications linked with this development and even more related to the energy infrastructure they plan to build.

“With different elements of the development decided at local authority, Scottish Government and UK Government levels, we have written to all three to ask for co-ordination and transparency on all the developments linked with the AI growth zone.”

A spokesperson for North Lanarkshire Council said: “While the council is supportive in principle of an AI growth zone status and the potential economic benefits this would bring, any application submitted would require to be assessed on its merits and against all relevant development plan policies and would be subject to the same assessment and consultation as any other planning application.”