• MSPs are debating a Scottish Greens motion calling for a moratorium on new hyperscale data-centre applications until national strategy and planning guidance are in place
  • Scotland already requires applications above 50MW to be notified to ministers and, from 16 September, to include an Environmental Impact Assessment

The fact

The Scottish Parliament is due to debate motion S7M-01177 on 16 September, lodged by Scottish Green MSP Patrick Harvie. It asks Parliament to support a moratorium on planning applications for new hyperscale data centres until Scotland produces a national strategy and updated planning guidance covering cumulative energy and environmental impacts. The motion itself does not set a numerical definition of hyperscale.

Scotland has already added national requirements for larger projects. Since 17 August, planning authorities have had to notify Scottish Ministers within seven days when they validate a data-centre application exceeding 50MW. On 16 September, the government also announced that all new data-centre applications above 50MW must include an Environmental Impact Assessment. Neither direction is a moratorium.

Green MSPs have cited a pipeline of projects that could collectively require around 6,000MW if all were developed. That is a political estimate used in the case for tighter controls, not a forecast that every proposed project will be built. Petition PE2233 separately calls for a moratorium and remains under consideration.

The assessment

Developers now have more concrete requirements than they did a month ago. Projects above 50MW must be reported to ministers and supported by an Environmental Impact Assessment, bringing environmental evidence into the process before a planning decision is made.

What remains unsettled is how Scotland will judge the pipeline as a whole. The Greens' motion calls for national guidance that considers cumulative demand, while the government has so far introduced procedures for individual applications. A project can therefore comply with today's notification and EIA rules without knowing whether later guidance will add new tests around energy demand or location.

For BTW readers, the distinction is between rules already in force and policy still being debated. The parliamentary vote does not itself determine individual applications. Developers need to plan against the current 50MW requirements while watching closely for national guidance that could change how projects are assessed before construction.

What to watch

Watch the vote and the final wording after amendments, followed by any timetable for Scotland's national data-centre strategy and planning guidance. The important detail will be whether future rules introduce cumulative electricity-demand or location tests beyond the existing notification and EIA requirements. The first applications processed under the new EIA direction will also show how much additional evidence developers must provide.