Business leader Sandy Begbie has again stepped into the data centre debate by calling for decisions on their location to be taken out of local hands.

Mr Begbie, chief executive of industry body Scottish Financial Enterprise, wants Scottish government ministers to determine data centre applications as recognition of their importance to the overall economy.

He has previously expressed concern at local authorities rejecting plans for what he calls “critical national infrastructure”.

In response to Edinburgh City Council’s proposed “moratorium” earlier this year, he said that opposition to data centres sends the “wrong signals” to the investment community when the demand for centres is clearly rising.

Now he says there is a need for the business voice in the debate to be heard more clearly and stop it from being “hijacked by politics, minority vested interests and false information”.

He said: “These are decisions of national importance for economic growth, resilience and security, and we should treat them so by designating data centres as critical national infrastructure,” he told Scotland on Sunday.

“As such, we should remove decisions around planning of these projects away from local authorities and the petty point scoring politics, and bring these decisions of national importance into central government.”

While there is general acceptance of the need for centres to support the digital economy, opposition has grown to hypercale facilities on grounds of environmental impact.

Among these proposed new developments is one from ILI Group which wants to invest £5 billion into a 600MW data centre, named Cato, which would dwarf the nearby village of Auchtertool in Fife.

During First Minister’s Questions last month, John Swinney said he was giving “active consideration” to introducing national planning guidance to balance the expansion of hyperscale data centres against Scotland’s energy and climate commitments.

He also said he was considering whether such decisions should be taken at a national rather than local level.

East Lothian plan for coal site

East Lothian Council has confirmed progress on a data centre planned for part of the former coal store site at Cockenzie. This is despite concerns from councillors and community representatives.

The centre is a joint venture between the local authority and Sustainable Development Capital.

The council will lease the 70-acre site to the joint venture to enable the delivery of the data centre but make no further capital contribution. The amount of future capital or revenue return to the council is yet to be finalised. 

The local authority also says that, as part of ongoing discussions with SDCL, a framework will be agreed to secure community benefits linked to the development.

Councillor John McMillan, provost and cabinet spokesperson for economic development and tourism, said: “It’s important to note that this work is still at an early stage, and any development will be subject to the normal planning process and no application has been made at this stage.” 

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