The Scottish Government is taking a whole system approach in its assessment of data centre infrastructure requirements and implications, including ensuring that the energy and water demands as well as community concerns are considered. The current key considerations are set out below:

(a) Electricity Grid; In October 2024, the Scottish, UK and Welsh Governments jointly commissioned a Strategic Spatial Energy Plan (SSEP) for Great Britain which will assess the optimal locations, quantities and types of energy infrastructure required to meet future energy demand, including from data centres, with the clean, affordable and secure supply that we need. The National Energy System Operator (NESO) is responsible for the development of the SSEP and the Scottish Government continues to engage with NESO on its progress and development.

(b) and (c) water resources and groundwater; This is an operational matter for Scottish Water which is encouraging data centre developers to look at sustainable alternatives, for example, using closed loop systems, using treated effluent or locating data centres in areas where there is a plentiful supply of water.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) regulates activities that abstract more than 50m³/day of inland waters (surface or groundwater).

SEPA assess these activities against Environmental Standards using the latest data on waterbody capacity and existing pressures. This ensures cumulative impacts are considered and permits are not issued where standards would be breached or other users adversely affected.

(d) Communities; Where development proposals come forward, the planning system ensures the potential impacts of proposals on communities and nature – including cumulative impacts – are important considerations in the decision-making process. All applications are subject to site specific assessments.

Through continued engagement with NESO, SEPA and Scottish Water, we will ensure that data centre investment takes place in a resource considerate manner, mitigating negative impacts and maximising positive impacts where possible, such as reduction in curtailment costs, where opportunities align.

The JTF is primarily a capital fund, and to date we have run capital funding rounds in 2022 and 2025. We do have a smaller resource budget, and we have made much of this available to the Just Transition Participatory Budgeting fund, as detailed in the following table . In year two of this scheme, an additional capacity building fund of £100k revenue was split between the three areas. In addition, we have also provided £324,192 resource funding for capacity support to North East Scotland Climate Action Network (NESCAN) Hub between 2022 – 2025 to fund staff resource costs to support delivery of the Just Transition Communities Project. We have also provided up to £40,000 to Moray Council to develop a Strategic Outline Case for the proposed Moray Engineering and Energy Innovation Centre in 2025-26.

The JTF has funded projects based on competitive bidding rounds, focused on delivering jobs and growth for the whole region. As part of the assessment process, we examine each bid against the criteria for the scheme. The full criteria for the competitive rounds of the Just Transition Fund have been published on the Scottish Government website. They are available to view at: https://www.gov.scot/publications/just-transition-fund/pages/overview/

We have funded work on two coordinated projects within the region – our funding of the Moray Net Zero Bottlenecks project has led to the development of a separate funded project to develop a Strategic Outline Case for the proposed Moray Engineering and Energy Innovation Centre.

To date, capital funding through the Just Transition Fund has been awarded through competitive processes, including open bidding rounds in 2022 and 2025. We have actively engaged with regional stakeholders, including Moray Council and local partners, throughout these bidding rounds.

The Scottish Government is investing £32.5m into Moray through the 10-year Moray Growth Deal. We welcome the council’s recent successful bid for an additional £40k from the Just Transition Fund to deliver a Strategic Outline Case for a refocussed skills and innovation project under the Moray Growth Deal.

The JTF has funded projects based on competitive bidding rounds, focused on delivering jobs and growth for the whole region. The Scottish Government has not made a specific commitment to allocate the JTF on a population-share basis between the council areas in the North East.

The full criteria for the competitive rounds of the Just Transition Fund have been published on the Scottish Government website. They are available to view at: https://www.gov.scot/publications/just-transition-fund/pages/overview/

A breakdown of funding provided to local authorities from the Just Transition Fund is given in the following table. This provides details of each project that has been awarded funding:

The vessel leasing costs for the current contract period (Oct '25 to March '26) payable by CalMac Ferries to Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited (CMAL), for vessels currently operating the Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Service are detailed in the following table.

Questions regarding day-to-day operational matters of Historic Environment Scotland, including queries relating to any Grant applications or eligibility, are best answered directly by Historic Environment Scotland.

I would suggest that Moray Council contact Historic Environment Scotland directly at [email protected] to discuss the Spey Viaduct Bridge repair project and any potential funding options. Further information on Historic Environment Scotland’s Grant Schemes is available at https://www.historicenvironment.scot/grants-and-funding/.