Controversial Edinburgh data centre plan thrown out by councillors
Plans for a massive data centre in Edinburgh have been thrown out by councillors.
Landowner Shelburn wanted to build the "green" data centre on the former RBS headquarters site at Edinburgh Park and said interest in the site was "enormous".
Planning officials had recommended approval in principle of the scheme, which also included a new public park, pointing out it had been designated a national development.
But it was unanimously rejected by the council's development management sub-committee after a hearing where the applicant, objectors and other parties were able to make presentations.
Data centres are large buildings full of computers which store and process information. They typically need huge amounts of energy and use large volumes of water to cool the servers.
Representatives of Shelburn said one of the benefits to the city of the proposal was the opportunity to use waste heat to heat homes and offices through a heat network.
But the sub-committee heard the proposals were not in line with the council's policy of changing the character of Edinburgh Park from a business-dominated environment into a thriving, mixed use and well integrated part of the city.
Green councillor Alys Mumford said one of the committee's tasks was to determine whether the data was, in fact, "green".
"It's only green data centres that are considered to be of major scale and therefore of national importance and we're told in the report that the fact it is national infrastructure is the reason why, on balance, it has been recommended even though it doesn't comply with several of our policies."
Councillor Mumford also argued it could not be considered a green data centre because, she believed, it failed to meet several of the criteria.
She said: "On power from renewable energy sources, we've been told there is something in place but we haven't been given the figures on this, we haven't been able to hear from the power providers.
"On making use of efficient technologies, we haven't had that much reassurance around the air cooling system.
"Seeking to minimise water consumption - we know there hasn't been pre-engagement with Scottish Water and no real detail about cooling. If this was a serious plan, this would have been at the forefront of discussions.
"And re-use of heat is the really key one for more. We were told by the applicants this was one of the main advantages for the council. We are nowhere near being able to realise this currently, so we have to discount that at the moment.
"So if this isn't a green data centre, which I believe it isn't, there are major issues with this proposal which can't be balanced out by that national consideration.”
She said among other issues, the plan would remove a quarter of the trees on the site and the scale was "unacceptably lage and dominant on the skyline".
SNP councillor Amy McNeese-Mechan said: "I don't see the evidence that this is green. What I'm seeing more is it could be made green in future, as long as somebody else does this, that or the other. So I don't think therefore it meets that criteria of being national infrastructure.
"It seems clear to me that if it is not delivering homes, significant employment and good quality green space, I really don't think the benefits can be said to outweigh the infringements of policy."
Tory councillor Joanna Mowat said: "What I see here is some big buildings behind a large fence right in the middle of what we are trying to make a bigger, more coherent, mixed use area."
And she said most other large-scale data centres were "around the coast, where the water is - not in built-up urban areas."
Lib Dem Kevin Lang said there were lots of outstanding questions, including energy consumption and water usage, though he wondered if these were sound reasons for rejecting planning permission in principle.
But he said he felt confident in refusing the application as contrary to the policy of trying to change Edinburgh Park.
"I worry that this application, if approved, drives a coach and horses through [that policy]. It's totally at odds with that vision that was agreed for how this important part of Edinburgh should change and develop over time."
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