A plan to build one of the world’s largest data centres next to a small historic village in Scotland has run into strong opposition from residents. Tensions are also growing between the British government, which is pushing to expand AI infrastructure, and local communities concerned about power, water and damage to the landscape.

On Aug. 31, local time, IT outlet TechRadar reported that a data centre is being pursued near Auchtertool in Fife, Scotland, on a site of more than 170 acres, or about 687,966 square metres, with a power capacity of 600 megawatts. The developer says that once completed it would be the world’s second-largest data centre after the Citadel Campus in Nevada in the United States. The site is larger than the village itself and the buildings are expected to be up to 35 metres tall.

Local opposition is strong. More than 1,600 objections have been submitted. David Torrance (데이비드 토런스), a member of the Scottish Parliament, said, "In my 25-year political career, I have never seen this level of opposition to a local development plan." Disputes over large data centre projects are continuing in other areas, including Airdrie and Laverte.

Scotland has emerged as a candidate location for data centres due to abundant power generation, relatively low land prices and a cool climate. Analysis says demand for large-scale facility development is moving north as Britain’s policy to expand AI infrastructure also takes effect. But concerns have also grown about the impact on local power grids, water supply and the landscape, given the huge electricity needs of a single 600-megawatt facility.

Regulation is also tightening. From Aug. 17, the Scottish government has required local authorities to notify the central government within 7 days when applications for new data centres exceeding 50 megawatts are submitted. It also separately instructed that an environmental impact assessment be filed for the Auchtertool data centre, after it was initially judged unnecessary. As a result, the project review schedule will be delayed.

Calls in politics for a moratorium to temporarily halt data centre development are also emerging, but they have not yet been finalised as policy. As Britain increases data centres to secure AI competitiveness, the key factors determining success or failure are expected to include not only computing scale but also access to power and water and acceptance by local communities.