Projects Challenge

• The Scottish government is considering a motion from the SNP national council to implement a moratorium on all new datacentre projects across the country. • This potential freeze follows reports from The Guardian alleging that the UK government and developers misrepresented the technical feasibility of a massive datacentre hub. • Local communities have raised significant concerns regarding land loss and the failure of promised jobs and investments to materialize.

Scottish government to consider SNP national council motion for moratorium on all new datacentresThe Scottish government is about to consider a sweeping moratorium on building new datacentres, putting a key plank of the UK’s AI strategy at risk.Last Sunday the Scottish National party (SNP)’s national council passed a motion to freeze all new datacentres in Scotland. That motion has been sent to the Scottish government to consider. Continue reading...

Chancellor’s planning shake-up would ‘reduce exposure from judicial review on all but human rights grounds’Rachel Reeves is ​preparing to announce a planning shake-up ‌that would fast-track clean energy ​and infrastructure projects by curbing judicial reviews, the ​Treasury said.The chancellor will propose that parliament should be able to designate and approve the most important clean energy projects as of “critical national importance”, as part of a wider package seeking to blunt the impact of the Iran crisis. Continue reading...