Thousands march in Edinburgh against AI data centres

Thousands of people have taken to the streets in protest against the building of large-scale AI data centres in Scotland.

An estimated 6,000 people turned out to join the demonstration, which marched down the Royal Mile to the Scottish Parliament on Saturday.

Campaigners from local groups in Cockenzie, Dunbar, Larbert, Ravenscraig, North Ayrshire, Aberdeenshire and the Borders travelled to Edinburgh to join the protest.

Most of the marchers told STV News they want communities to have “a seat at the table” when it comes to drawing up guidance for data centre approval and said they felt their concerns were going “unheard”.

Some bore placards with the writing “We cannae drink data” and “AI? Aye Right”.

Kat Jones, director of Action to Protect Rural Scotland said: “Today we are sending a clear message to the Scottish Government. They have to stop ignoring the calls from civil society to be involved in discussions around the future of hyperscale AI data centres in Scotland.”

The protest coincides with the Global Day of Action around the UN COP31 climate talks in Antalya, Turkey. Every year, this date has been marked by climate protest in Scotland, but this year the key march has its focus on data centres.

According to September figures from the National Energy System Operator, there are 28 data centre proposals, representing 8.9GW of power in the queue to get a connection to the grid. This represents over twice the current winter peak electricity demand for Scotland.

At the moment, the biggest data centre in Scotland is thought to be DataVita’s site in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, which has a capacity for 12MW.

Danny Quinn, managing director of DataVita spoke with STV News ahead of the march. He said: “The way that technology is developing, it is going to become a critical part of every developed economy and we need the data centres and resources to run AI within our own countries and our own regions without being dependent on simply consuming it from another country.”

A recent report by Spotlight on Corruption highlighted that 84% of the stakeholder meetings that UK Ministers have had on data centres have been with the private sector, with just two meetings held with community groups.

Friends of the Earth Scotland senior campaigner Kim Pratt said: “Community groups have been joined by environmental, anti-poverty and anti-war organisations and artists to show this is an issue that is important to everyone.

“The huge data centres being proposed would crowd out communities, double Scotland’s electricity demand and make our energy bills more expensive, as well as trashing our climate commitments and using thousands of tonnes of precious materials, such as nickel and copper.

“The Scottish Government has failed to explain why it thinks AI data centres are needed in Scotland and how it will protect people from their harms. We’ve seen how normal people suffer when big tech is allowed to push through their data centre plans in other countries – the same thing cannot be allowed to happen in Scotland. That’s why we are demanding that people are given a say on AI data centres in Scotland before any decisions are made.”

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “The Scottish Government will be publishing new planning guidance on data centres before the end of the year and, in parallel, is developing a strategic approach to maximising the public benefit from data centres located in Scotland

“Planning authorities are also now required to notify ministers of new data centre applications, with a new planning direction also mandating an Environmental Impact Assessment to be submitted during planning for all new data centres with a power capacity exceeding 50 megawatts.”