Reject Chapelcross Hyperscale Data Centre

A proposal for the world’s largest data centre has been submitted at Chapelcross in Dumfries and Galloway. If approved, the data centre would have a capacity of 1GW - bigger than any other in the world - using 7 million MWh of energy per year, equivalent to over two million homes. If the proposal goes ahead, the data centre will put a massive strain on Dumfries and Galloway’s energy grid and destroy the local natural environment. We need your help to reject this proposal.

Scotland is currently facing a wave of hyperscale data centre applications. The latest proposal to be lodged is at Chapelcross in Dumfries and Galloway. At a capacity of 1000MW, if approved, this development would be the largest data centre in the world.

Operating at full capacity, it would use 7 million MWh of energy a year, the same as the energy used by over two million homes in Scotland.

The proposal would put a massive strain on Scotland’s energy grid, with households facing rising costs as energy demand spikes. With hundreds of megawatts of renewable electricity diverted from homes to hyperscale data centres, all our efforts to transition to renewables could be undone by the huge strain placed on our energy system.

A third of Ireland’s entire domestic energy supply goes to powering data centres. The average household in Ireland now pays an extra £300 a year on energy, because of data centres. At the same time, tech giants and billionaires are making huge profits.

Within limits, data centres are an essential part of modern infrastructure. The site at Chapelcross could be the best place to put a data centre by utilising a decommissioned brownfield site. But the proposal lodged is reckless and endangers our energy supply and natural environment. Until we have a clear national strategy from the Government, this proposal cannot proceed.

At a time of rising energy prices and stalled climate action, an unregulated expansion like this could have huge impacts on both people and planet, all while enriching giant AI companies and their super-rich owners.

The developer’s own environmental impact assessment states that the facility would have a “moderate adverse and significant” impact on the environment. Emissions from the site would exceed the legal limit for greenhouse gas emissions in Dumfries and Galloway by almost double when fully operational.

In September, the Scottish Greens forced a vote to hit the brakes on new applications and decisions on live proposals until full environmental impact assessments and a coherent national strategy had been completed.

The Scottish Government stated that no decisions will be reached before the end of the year, and that they will have guidance in place by December. But now we are seeing the possibility of the world’s largest data centre campus setting up in Dumfries and Galloway, with the community given just weeks to respond.

Thousands of people have already made their voices heard. Join us in writing to Dumfries and Galloway council to reject this proposal.

Your submission will be sent to Dumfries and Galloway Council as a formal objection to the planning application.

Add your voice against Chapelcross data centre

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Dear Planning Officer,

I am writing to object to planning application 26/1649/PIP for the proposed hyperscale data centre development at Chapelcross.

I recognise that National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4) supports the redevelopment of Chapelcross in principle (Annex B, section 17). However, I believe the proposals set out in this case to be reckless, and not in line with relevant guidance, including NPF4, Dumfries and Galloway’s Local Development Plan, and guidance from the Scottish Government.

NPF4 Policy 2 requires development proposals to minimise lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions “as far as possible”. This guidance says applicants must demonstrate how this has been achieved and provide enough information for the planning authority to make that judgement.

The developer’s own Environmental Impact Assessment raises serious questions about whether Chapelcross can meet this requirement. It concludes that the development would have a “moderate adverse and significant” greenhouse gas impact both during operation and over its whole life (see: EIAR Vol. 1, Ch. 15, pp. 15-23 to 15-25).

The assessment estimates that emissions from the development during 2041-45 would be equivalent to 8.12% of Scotland’s carbon budget for that five-year period. Considering the Dumfries and Galloway carbon pathway, emissions during 2038-42 are estimated to be equivalent to 76.98% of the regional carbon budget. Even when emissions associated with replacing computer servers are excluded, the figure remains 20% of the regional carbon budget (for all figures, see: EIAR Vol. 1, Ch. 15, pp. 15-18 to 15-19).

These findings are difficult to reconcile with the outlined purpose of Chapelcross within NPF4. National Development 17 describes the redevelopment of Chapelcross as an opportunity to deliver net zero and support a just transition to net zero. NPF4’s assessment anticipated that development at Chapelcross would be likely to make an overall positive contribution towards national greenhouse gas reduction targets. I would therefore question whether a development whose own environmental assessment identifies significant adverse greenhouse gas effects can reasonably be considered compliant with NPF4 Policies 1 and 2 and with the stated net-zero purpose of National Development 17.

These impacts must also be considered against Dumfries and Galloway Council’s own climate commitments. The Council has committed to supporting Dumfries and Galloway to reach net zero on or before 2040 and become carbon negative by 2045. I do not believe the Council can treat the climate consequences of this proposal as incidental to the planning decision. 
Furthermore, NPF4 Policy 9 prioritises the sustainable reuse of brownfield land and states that development proposals on greenfield land will not be supported unless the site is explicitly supported by the Local Development Plan.

Although the Chapelcross development is frequently presented as the redevelopment of a former nuclear and brownfield site, the applicant’s own environmental documents show that the majority of the application site is greenfield land. The applicant’s Scoping Report identifies approximately 33 hectares of the 57-hectare site as agricultural land, around 58% of the total site area (EIAR Volume 2, Appendix 2-1, paragraph 5.2.5). The final Environmental Impact Assessment similarly states that “the majority of the Site comprises greenfield land” (EIAR Volume 1, Chapter 12: Water Environment, paragraph 12.6.17) and describes the site as “predominantly agricultural land together with areas of previously developed land” (EIAR Volume 1, Chapter 13: Soil and Groundwater Conditions, paragraph 13.6.1).

Dumfries and Galloway LDP2 Policy ED4 supports business, industrial and energy-generating development at Chapelcross, but specifically states that “priority should be given to the reuse of brownfield land” (LDP2, p. 27.). There is therefore a significant planning question over whether a proposal which would develop a site that is predominantly greenfield is consistent with the brownfield-first approach established by both NPF4 Policy 9 and LDP2 ED4.

Further, the proposed development has a potential capacity of 960MW (Sustainability Statement, paragraph 4.7.). Despite that scale, the application does not yet identify the specific electricity-generating projects that would supply the site, their contracted capacity, or the eventual proportion of demand that would be met by renewable generation rather than the grid. The applicant’s own Planning Statement acknowledges that some renewable projects are still to be developed, that power connections would come forward separately and in phases, and, because the power sources have not yet been identified, that their likely significant environmental effects are “not fully identifiable at this time” (Planning Statement, paragraphs 5.252-5.254, p. 66.) 
This creates a serious question under NPF4 Policy 18, which states that development proposals should only be supported where provision has been made to address their impacts on infrastructure. Given the potential scale of Chapelcross’s electricity demand, I do not believe permission should be granted if the Council cannot be satisfied that the energy infrastructure required to serve the development is identified.

There is also a national policy reason not to determine this application at this stage. On 16 September 2026, the Scottish Parliament agreed that new national planning guidance should be produced for hyperscale data centres, covering environmental, spatial, energy and community impacts. The motion agreed by Parliament states that no planning or consenting decisions on these applications should be made until that work is completed.

The Minister for Public Finance, Hannah Mary Goodlad MSP, subsequently confirmed that the Scottish Government would produce guidance before the end of the year covering spatial and environmental issues, energy and heat use.

The First Minister has also told Parliament: “We do not anticipate that any applications will be determined by planning authorities before our planning guidance is issued later this year.” 
It would therefore be premature to determine a 960MW proposal at Chapelcross before the national guidance specifically intended to inform decisions on developments like this has been completed.

Taken together, I do not believe the application has demonstrated compliance with the development plan, particularly NPF4 Policies 1, 2, 9 and 18 and LDP2 Policy ED4. I therefore ask Dumfries and Galloway Council to refuse planning permission in principle.

At an absolute minimum, no determination should be made until the Scottish Government has published its promised national planning and spatial guidance for hyperscale data centres and the Council has assessed this application against it.

Regards,

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