‘It’s smoke and mirrors’: hope turns to fear in Scottish village chosen for AI datacentre

Lead

A Scottish village selected for a major AI datacentre project is seeing hope turn to fear as residents claim promises of jobs and investment may never materialize. The Scottish National Party (SNP) has passed a motion to freeze new datacentres, which could put a key part of the UK’s AI strategy at risk.

Coverage comparison

Two distinct strands of coverage have emerged from The Guardian. One focuses on the policy level: the Scottish government is considering a moratorium on building new datacentres, following a motion passed by the SNP’s national council. The other is a local, investigative piece that examines the Lanarkshire AI growth zone, highlighting community fears and allegations that the project’s plans misrepresent the intentions of the government and the developer.

Key claims

The Scottish government is considering a moratorium on building new datacentres in Scotland, as reported by The Guardian. The SNP’s national council passed a motion to freeze all new datacentres in Scotland, and the motion has been sent to the Scottish government for consideration. If adopted, the moratorium could apply to all datacentre projects that have not yet received planning permission, although its exact implementation would be up to the Scottish government to decide.

The UK’s AI strategy relies heavily on Scotland’s access to renewable energy, according to the same report. There are 24 hyperscale datacentre projects in various stages of planning in Scotland, and their combined power usage would exceed Scotland’s peak demand.

The Lanarkshire AI growth zone project was announced with promises of 3,400 new jobs and a community fund that would inject up to £543m into local programmes. However, local residents have expressed concerns about the project’s impact on their community, with some saying they fear they may have to sell their properties and lose green belt land. The project’s plans appear to misrepresent the actual intentions of the government and DataVita, a Glasgow real-estate firm, for the development of the site. The site would require vast amounts of energy and land, and the community fund has no current funding.

Perspectives

SNP and Scottish government: The SNP’s national council passed a motion to freeze new datacentres, citing concerns about “overdevelopment” and the intrusive nature of the projects. The motion has been sent to the Scottish government to consider.

Local residents and critics: Residents in Newarthill have expressed concerns about the project’s impact on their community, saying that promises of jobs and investment are misleading. One resident said, “It was a sweetener: don’t oppose this and you’ll be OK,” and that none of the sweeteners are enforceable. The project’s plans are described as “smoke and mirrors” by critics, who fear that jobs and investment will never materialise.

Developer and government: The Lanarkshire AI growth zone project is to be built by the US company CoreWeave and DataVita, an arm of a Glasgow real-estate firm. The government announced the project as part of its AI strategy, but the Guardian’s reporting suggests that the developer and the government may have misrepresented the technical feasibility of the project.