A £5bn hyperscale data centre, on a greenfield site, with no named end-user.
ILI Group's "Cato" proposal would place six buildings up to 35m high near the village of Auchtertool — the first of a planned network of giant Scottish data centres. Campaigners estimate it could draw power on the scale of a fifth of Scotland's energy. It is planned over a 16th-century castle ruin and a wildlife site, and no end-user has been identified.
This is speculation built into the land. It is the second Scottish AI data centre to reach this stage; the first, in Edinburgh, was refused.
A £2bn data centre on treasured moorland in the Scottish Borders.
The "Southside" proposal by Roxburghe Estates and Sunlaws Development Company would place three large two-storey buildings on Lammermuir moorland at Clawbare, near Longformacus — open countryside known for wildlife, dark skies and hill farming. Over 6,000 people have already signed against it.
It is at pre-application stage: a formal application to Scottish Borders Council is expected later in 2026. The community is organising now, before it is lodged — which is exactly when a voice counts most.
A council said no. The government overruled it. Now it's in court.
Buckinghamshire Council twice refused a 90MW hyperscale data centre on green-belt land at Iver, judging it inappropriate. The government overturned that refusal on appeal. Campaign groups Foxglove and Global Action Plan are now bringing a landmark legal challenge — the first of its kind against a UK data centre approval.
It is a test case for every community whose voice is overruled from above. Watch it closely; what happens here echoes everywhere.
