The Lammermuir Hills have been here longer than any planning application. They will be here long after every server rack has been decommissioned. The question being asked by the people who love them is exactly the right question: why here?
A massive industrial-scale data centre is being proposed for the hills near Longformacus in the Scottish Borders. The Lammermuirs are designated as a Special Landscape Area — recognised for their wildlife, open moorland, dark skies, hill farming traditions, and the deep quiet that comes from land that has not yet been industrialised.
This is not a distant fight. For those of us who live and work and walk in Scotland, these are our hills. This is our landscape. And this is happening now.
The facts of this proposal
What we know
- Industrial-scale data centre proposed for Lammermuir Hills, near Longformacus, Scottish Borders
- The site is within a Special Landscape Area — a designation that exists precisely to protect places like this
- Concerns raised: landscape impact, wildlife disruption, energy demand, light pollution, noise, long-term environmental consequences
- Decision maker: Scottish Borders Council, with South of Scotland Enterprise as a secondary stakeholder
- Petition started 3 June 2026 — already gathering thousands of signatures
- The petitioners are clear: they are not anti-technology, not opposed to sustainable development. They are opposed to the wrong development in the wrong place.
That last point matters. The people fighting this are not Luddites. They are not opposed to data centres in principle. They are asking a reasonable, urgent, necessary question: of all the places you could put this, why would you choose a Special Landscape Area of ancient moorland?
Why the Firewalkers is amplifying this
The Firewalkers was built for exactly this moment. A community with a short window. A landscape that cannot speak for itself in a planning application. People with passion but not always the tools, the templates, or the network to make their voices heard at the right scale.
This is Scotland. This is the land the Firewalkers was born to serve. And this petition is already moving — which means the community is already awake and acting. Our job is to amplify that, connect it to tools that help, and make sure the decision-makers understand the weight of what they are being asked to approve.
We are also aware that this is not an isolated case. While you read this, similar proposals are being processed in planning offices across Britain, Ireland, Europe and beyond. The Lammermuirs petition is not just a local fight. It is a signal about what happens when communities are given the tools to say no — and a template for every community that comes after.
What you can do right now
Three actions — any one of them helps
Sign the petition
1,200 signatures in three days. Every additional signature adds weight to the community's voice in front of Scottish Borders Council.
Sign now at change.org →Share it — especially in Scotland
Share the petition on X, LinkedIn, Facebook, WhatsApp — especially with anyone who knows the Borders, loves the Lammermuirs, or cares about what is happening to Scotland's landscapes.
Write a formal objection to Scottish Borders Council
A personal letter to the planning department carries more weight than a petition signature in formal planning terms. Use our AI toolkit to draft one in minutes.
Get the AI planning objection toolkit →The Lammermuirs have survived everything that history has thrown at them. Dark skies. Open moorland. Ancient farmland. Wildlife that has no other home.
Let's make sure they survive this too.