Data centre plans for Lammermuir Hills reach 'important milestone'
A huge £2 billion AI data centre earmarked for moorland hills between the Scottish Borders and East Lothian has reached an important milestone – just as a petition against it edges towards the 50,000 mark.
The Southside Data Centre is proposed by Sunlaws Development Company Limited on land at Rawburn in the Lammermuir Hills in Berwickshire.
Now a Proposal of Application Notice (PAN) has been submitted to Scottish Borders Council for the proposed data centre on the Roxburghe Estate.
A PAN must be lodged at least 12 weeks before any planning application can be submitted.
The notice formally begins the statutory pre-application consultation required for a major development, and confirms the applicant’s intention to submit a full planning application in the first quarter of 2027.
Campaign group Save the Lammermuirs – Stop the Data Centre (SLSDC) has described the proposals as the “wrong development in the wrong place”.
And a petition launched by the group against the development has generated more than 49,000 signatures.
Sunlaws Development Company (SDC) say it would create 145 high-quality local jobs with its £2bn Southside proposal at a site to the west of Duns, between the villages of Longformacus and Westruther.
Copies of the notice have been sent to five community councils, the ward councillors, and the area’s representatives in the Scottish and United Kingdom Parliaments.
The notice sets out the next round of public events.
Public information days will be held at Westruther Village Hall on Monday, November 30th (12.30pm to 6.45pm) and Longformacus Village Hall on Thursday, December 3rd (12.30pm to 7.30pm), with a second round at the same venues in the new year: Longformacus Village Hall on Wednesday, January 13th (12.30pm to 7.30pm) and Westruther Village Hall on Thursday, January 14th (1pm to 6.45pm).
The public events will be drop-in exhibitions, where people can view detailed information on the proposals, put questions directly to members of the project team, and leave written feedback.
The proposal is the subject of a full Environmental Impact Assessment covering landscape and visual impact, cultural heritage and archaeology, ecology and ornithology, hydrology and geology, noise and air quality. The findings will be published in full alongside the planning application.
Jaap Röell, Managing Director of Sunlaws Development Company, said: “Submitting the notice is an important milestone. It marks the start of the formal, public stage of consultation.
“We have been talking to the community since the earliest concept stage, and the design has changed as a result.
“At events in November, December and January, people will be able to see the updated design and the emerging findings of the environmental assessment, and put their questions to our team.
“We want to hear from everyone, whether they support the proposal or have concerns, because their views will shape the final application.
“We expect to submit in the first quarter of next year, once the consultation and environmental assessment are complete.”
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