Chamber and committees

Hyperscale Data Centres: Amendment 5

Submitted by: Hannah Mary Goodlad, Shetland Islands, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 September 2026
Motion type: Amendment
Motion reference: S7M-01177.5
Current status: Due to be taken in the Chamber on Wednesday, 16 September 2026

As an amendment to motion S7M-01177 in the name of Patrick Harvie (Hyperscale Data Centres), leave out from “agrees” to end and insert “believes new hyper-scale data centres in Scotland will only be approved where they have met robust environmental impact assessments, which will take account of any impact on the amenity of any neighbouring communities; welcomes the Scottish Government’s commitment to the swift creation of national planning and spatial guidance by the end of the year for the determination of conditions, under which data centre development should be permitted; believes that, in order to gain planning approval, any proposals for data centres should demonstrate how they would minimise emissions for their energy usage and not impact on water usage and how community wealth benefit will be built in to the business case; notes that best practice for the creation of data centres includes steps to support decarbonisation and to recycle waste heat for wider community use; recognises the increased utilisation of AI and further development of such technology, and calls for strong domestic regulation of and international collaboration on the development and use of AI systems to ensure its safe and ethical use, and to address the scale and seriousness of potential threats the use of AI may pose now and in the future.”