Opposition to massive AI data centres is growing in Scotland and affected communities continue to campaign, protest and organise against the greedy big tech developers who champion these projects. This week we hosted a very special National Meeting – on the global movement of resistance to data centres, with speakers from Malaysia, India, Ireland, the United States and Scotland.
Friends of the Earth Falkirk have been supporting the residents campaign against the planning application for a Mega 300 MW Data Centre. We have attended two public meetings organised by residents, two community protests at the roundabout, where the land for sale sign identifies where the developer wants the planning permission for. The timescale for objections to Falkirk Council has now closed.
Over 7000 objections have been received and the community and national organisations has done a lot of analysis to identify and highlight publicly the impacts on a number of environmental and economic concerns in regards to the information within the planning application and the Environmental Impact Assessment.
It is clear the scale of the proposal is not appropriate for the site in Larbert. There are specific issues related to the Data Centre information but for Friends of the Earth Falkirk the geographic location alone makes it an environmental injustice. The site is less than a kilometre for Forth Valley Royal Hospital the main hospital for Forth Valley. The Data Centre includes 200 generators to maintain a power supply for power cuts. The proposed Data Centre's demand for 24 hour energy consumption expects there to be, and will increase power outages in Larbert. Local residents don't want their hospital to have more power outages.
The proposal claims to be "Green" due to the use of renewable power. On the scale of this, and the other proposed Data Centre's, proposed in Scotland would increase the demand for renewable electricity and increased demand either maintains or increases the price of the energy.
We can not allow Data Centres to exploit our green energy for corporate profit.
The promise of renewable energy in Scotland has been energy security and reductions in energy costs.
For more specific information on the Larbert Proposal follow No To Larbert Data Centre Facebook page.
Local residents are holding a Public Meeting at Larbert Dobbie Hall, 7pm on Thursday 10 September. Due to the turnout at the previous meeting numbers are limited to 500 and a ticket is required to attend.
There is a gathering of communities impacted by proposed Data Centres at Scottish Parliament on Wednesday 3 September, 11.30, to greet MSP's as they return form their summer holiday.
Falkirk Council Pre Determination Hearing will be held at Larbert High School Wednesday 16 September. All objectors will be invited to attend and Falkirk Council will be live streaming the event. See Falkirk Council Website for more details
For the past couple of years members of Friends of the Earth Falkirk have supported a number of events both locally and nationally. At times these events were so regular there was no need for the small steering group to meet in between events. Members have also been involved in solidarirty and counter racism protesting outside the asylum seeker accommodation in central Falkirk. At times this has been a bi-weekly commitment with national marches coming along regularly- Scotland Demands Better Edinburgh, Scotlands Climate March, and Falkirk's Unity March- one of the biggest protests in Falkirk Town Centre.
Despite all these events, the group co-hosted a screening of Power Station along with the Polmont Community Hub. This was an oppertunity for our group's supporters to meet up watch an inspiring film and share food together.
Everybody is busy and the relaunch is not so much to try and increase the core group but to increase the supporter membership and to provide opportunities for supporters to be inspired to take local action in their community through social and inspiring events.
If you would like to sign up to our email list and get involved in and suggest local campaign issues, complete the googledoc form and we will get in touch:
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