More than 1,200 objections have been submitted in response to plans for a £5 billion hyperscale data centre near Auchtertool in Fife.

The objections have been lodged through Fife Council’s online planning portal, with several hundred more expected to appear once the consultation period closes later today.

ILI Group submitted plans for the 600MW Cato data centre earlier this year, with the proposed development set to include a complex of large data halls, electricity substations and associated plant. Residents are concerned by the size of the scheme, however, which would dwarf the nearby village of Auchtertool, which has a population of around 250 people.

If the scheme is ultimately rejected, it could be a huge blow to ILI Group, as Cato was supposed to form the first part of its proposed Stoics network of Scottish data centres, alongside the 540MW Rufus project in East Ayrshire and the 400MW Aurelius development in North Lanarkshire. Collectively, the three projects would represent around 1.5GW of capacity and £15 billion of investment.

Concerns over energy use and rural location

Objections have been submitted by people from across Fife and elsewhere in Scotland, with concerns focusing on the sheer size of the project, as well as the potential heat, noise and resource demands associated with operating the facility.

Action to Protect Rural Scotland has calculated that the data centre could consume the equivalent of around half of Scotland’s annual household electricity use. That figure is only realistic if the centre is fully built out, however. Early phases are estimated to use just 400 GWh, which would be equivalent to only about 4.5% of Scotland’s current domestic electricity consumption. 

The campaign group has previously called for a moratorium on hyperscale data centre developments in Scotland, arguing that their cumulative impact on the grid, water supplies, communities and the environment should be assessed before further planning permission is granted.

More than 2,500 people have signed a petition calling on the Scottish Government to introduce such a moratorium, while a separate petition opposing the Auchtertool development has attracted more than 8,000 signatures.

Auchtertool Community Council has also lodged an objection, describing the application as ‘ill-conceived and inappropriate’.

ILI defends Auchtertool plans

ILI Group has defended the proposed development, arguing that it could provide a productive use for renewable electricity that would otherwise be curtailed when generation exceeds available grid capacity.

The developer previously told Data Centre Review that Cato had secured an approved Gate 2 grid position and would use renewable electricity. It argued that additional demand from data centres could support further investment in both renewable generation and electricity infrastructure.

ILI has also sought to address concerns surrounding water demand. The company estimates that the development would use around 34,000 cubic metres of water each year, equivalent to the annual consumption of approximately 239 homes, and says it would be supplied through infrastructure separate from the network serving Auchtertool.

The company has pointed to the economic benefits of the project, with analysis commissioned from BiGGAR Economics estimating that its construction could generate £708 million in Gross Value Added across Scotland, including £105 million in Fife. The completed facility is expected to directly support around 120 permanent skilled roles.

There has long been a debate about water usage in the UK’s data centres, and yet the stats appear to show that the issue has been overblown. In fact, in England, more than half of data centres use waterless cooling. 

Fife Council will now have to consider the volume of objections alongside the economic case put forward by the developer. With opposition intensifying since the application was first submitted, securing permission for one of Scotland’s largest proposed data centres is unlikely to be straightforward.

That showcases the scale of the challenge the data centre industry is facing when it comes to community opposition – and it’s a problem that appears to be getting bigger. While the industry has attempted to combat some of the bad press, it hasn’t stopped the likes of the Scotland’s Government from considering a temporary moratorium on the construction of new data centres in the country. 

If community opposition continues, the data centre industry in the UK could face real constraints on growth – meaning it could lose out on the economic opportunities that are currently available with the AI boom.