On 30 July, a Scottish Government planning reporter issued a ‘screening direction’ requiring an environmental impact assessment (EIA) to be carried out for a proposal to build a 210-megawatt data centre in the South Gyle area of Edinburgh.
The screening direction was made in response to a request from ERCS’ Law Service to the Scottish Government, made on behalf of our client Dr Rupert Nash. Edinburgh Council and the developer (Shelborn Drummond Ltd) opposed our request which became the subject of lengthy representations from all parties.
That decision follows two prior EIA screening opinions made by Edinburgh Council where the Council decided that no EIA was required, despite documents from the developer indicating that the data centre would result in annual emissions of carbon dioxide equivalent to more than three times Edinburgh Council’s emissions.
The data centre proposal was refused planning permission by Edinburgh Council on 9 February 2026. The developer has appealed the refusal of planning permission to the Scottish Government’s Planning and Environmental Appeals Division (appeal reference: PPA-230-2794). The developer is now required to confirm by 20 August 2026 whether they will submit an EIA report.
ERCS and APRS previously wrote to the Scottish Government in December 2025 urging them to pause all applications for data centres until they had fully considered the implications of new hyperscale data centres on Scotland’s energy grid, energy prices and net zero targets.
Dr Ben Christman, ERCS Legal Director, said:
‘We are relieved that the Scottish Government’s planning reporter has decided an EIA is required for this proposed data centre following our request for a screening direction.
The Reporter’s decision effectively overturns a previous screening opinion made by Edinburgh Council and it raises questions about the rigour of the Council’s screening process.
Large data centres have clear adverse effects on climate change due to their vast demands for energy. It is vital that their adverse effects on the environment are fully considered and understood during the planning process, so that the Scottish Government and members of the public can properly consider whether they should be granted planning permission.
EIAs should be mandatory for hyperscale data centres. Members of the public and communities should not have to battle against councils and developers just to get a decision that an EIA is needed.‘
Dr Rupert Nash, ERCS’s client, said:
‘I would like to thank the Reporter for directing that an environmental impact assessment must be performed before this appeal can be considered. I am particularly pleased that she explicitly rejected the applicants’ circular reasoning around NPF4 allowing them to assume greenhouse gas emissions are automatically negligible and that the precautionary principle, a cornerstone of environmental law, is being respected. Further, given emerging evidence of a data centre heat island effect, I am relieved to see the impact of waste heat included in the scope of the directed EIA.
I am confident that, on completion, the EIA will show that the current proposals will have a significant negative environmental impact and thus Edinburgh Council were correct to refuse planning permission.
I must also thank Ben Christman at ERCS Legal for representation, without which I would not have even known this was legally possible.‘
