Edinburgh became the focal point of a growing environmental debate on Thursday as hundreds of protesters descended on Holyrood to demand an immediate moratorium on Scotland’s accelerating datacentre expansion. The demonstration, described by organisers as the largest yet in an increasingly vocal campaign, saw communities from across Scotland uniting against at least 20 proposed projects—including one in Fife that developers have labelled the second largest datacentre anywhere in the world.
At the heart of the protest was Kat Jones, a 52-year-old campaigner who has emerged as something of a Scottish Erin Brockovich in this fight. Addressing the crowd gathered in the shadow of Arthur’s Seat, Jones—director of the NGO Action to Protect Rural Scotland— Galvanised supporters with calls for immediate action while the Scottish government conducts thorough environmental impact assessments.
“Who is here from Lammermuir? Ayrshire? What about Aberdeen?” she called out, her voice cutting through the autumn air as she revved up the assembled masses. The energy was palpable; this wasn’t just another nimby protest but a coordinated national response to what many see as an unchecked land grab.
The Numbers Behind the Backlash
The scale of what is being proposed is staggering. According to figures compiled by campaigners, the datacentre projects currently in the planning pipeline would collectively demand more energy than all of Scotland requires at its peak consumption. Some individual facilities are planned with power requirements ranging from 120MW to 200MW—enormous figures that underscore why these facilities are increasingly controversial.
Kathleen White, a resident opposing a proposed £2 billion facility in the Lammermuir hills on the Scottish Borders, articulated the visceral anger felt by many in affected communities. “We are from a small village of about a hundred people. The project is planned about a mile up the road,” she explained. Her voice carried the frustration of someone watching bureaucratic processes threaten her doorstep.
The proposed development would see eight hectares—equivalent to roughly twenty acres—transformed from greenfield land into a sprawling complex of concrete and cooling infrastructure. “There’s a reservoir and an angling spot. It’s an upland area with dark skies. The datacentre buildings would cover eight hectares of mostly concrete in a greenfield area. It is going to be a monstrosity.”
A National Strategy or a National Shame?
The protest outside Holyrood arrived just days after First Minister John Swinney delivered his programme for government—the Scottish equivalent of a king’s speech. While Swinney spoke of taking a “strategic approach” with “expectations around environmental sustainability, resource use, community benefit,” he stopped conspicuously short of endorsing a moratorium.
That omission has not gone unnoticed by campaigners. From Dumbarton to Greenock, opposition is mounting against both the velocity and sheer magnitude of development proposals. Some sites are planned for rural locations adjacent to small villages; others would rise next to care homes and residential housing estates.
The UK government’s own AI ambitions are complicating the picture. Westminster has identified datacentre infrastructure as crucial to its economic strategy, with Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s administration heavily emphasising artificial intelligence as a vehicle for stimulating growth in a sluggish economy. Five AI growth zones have been designated across the country, with one positioned in Lanarkshire—a rural area outside Glasgow.
British officials have actively encouraged would-be developers to look north, pointing to Scotland’s abundant renewable energy sources and water supplies as ideal for power-hungry facilities. But mounting public opposition—and the very real possibility of a moratorium—now threatens to derail this northern pivot.
Political Alliances and Economic Tensions
The protest has forged unlikely alliances. Ross Greer, co-leader of the Scottish Greens, stood alongside demonstrators outside Holyrood, lending his party’s backing to the moratorium call. His assessment was blunt: “If we want to have the internet, we need datacentres and Scotland already has plenty of them. But some of these new hyper-scale datacentres of 120MW to 200MW—in total, those proposed would require more energy than all of Scotland needs at its peak at the moment. That is clearly not possible.”
Meanwhile, Reform UK has also raised concerns about project numbers, creating a rare point of alignment between parties spanning the political spectrum.
Public Finance Minister Hannah Mary Goodlad acknowledged the balancing act facing ministers. “We must balance the economic and employment interests in developing datacentres with national energy, climate and community wealth building ambitions, which are vital to our future prosperity, as well as the potential impact on local communities,” she said. “I am clear that voices of communities that will be affected will be central to any considerations on datacentres.”
Why it Matters
Scotland stands at a crossroads. The global AI revolution demands unprecedented computational infrastructure, and the UK’s strategy hinges on building out that capacity rapidly. Yet communities across Scotland are asking legitimate questions about planning, energy consumption, and the transformation of their countryside. The tension between economic ambition and environmental stewardship has rarely been sharper. Without a coherent national framework—something even the Scottish government’s own programme failed to deliver—Scotland risks being overwhelmed by development before proper assessment can occur. The protesters gathered outside Holyrood represent not a rejection of progress but a demand for it to be managed responsibly, with proper safeguards for the communities and landscapes that will bear the consequences of decisions made in boardrooms far from these serene hills and villages.
