Friday June 5th 2026
Visualisation of the data centre
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Paul Kelly
A Borders community campaigning against plans for a new Artificial Intelligence (AI) data centre on their doorstep were placated by elements of the scheme revealed at a consultation event this week – but remain firmly opposed to the complex.
Sunlaws Development Company Limited want to build the Southside Data Centre on land at Clawbare Cottage in Longformacus.
The planned development on the Roxburghe Estate comprises of three large two-storey data centre buildings, each with a height up to 24m.
Within each building, half comprises IT floor space and half electrical and mechanical infrastructure.
The prospect of such a huge centre on their doorstep has alarmed the communities of Longformacus, Allenford and the Cranshaws.
A campaign has been launched to block the plans amid concerns over the “industrialisation” of the Lammermuir Hills.
An initial consultation at Longformacus Village Hall this week was attended by around 100 members of the public.
The developer says the data centre represents a £2 billion investment in the Scottish economy, bringing with it 145 long-term jobs and also bolstering the Borders economy to the tune of £12m a year.
One of the campaigners in attendance was Ben Charlesworth, who revealed that some initial concerns were allayed.
Mr Charlesworth said: “In some aspects it absolutely helped some of the initial fears, mainly around the aesthetics of the site.
“Initially we had seen the original concepts of quite clinical white buildings but there are proposals to increase the size of the burns, add this green roof and this green paint to try and match into the area, so that helped mitigate that worry.
“The ones we didn’t get answers for and continue to remain a worry with the local communities is around the environmental impact, we weren’t able to get any solid information.
“There is also the question of the local benefits and the numbers didn’t really hold up under scrutiny at this stage.
“Jobs to be created was one issue. That number initially was 300 and over the weeks it has continued to drop and I believe that now there is a best estimate of 140 but that number was based on data centres around the world and not specifically this one.”
Mr Charlesworth can speak with some confidence on the issue as he works in the defence industry creating data centres.
He added: “Myself and the community are all very much on board that AI is the future and that data centres are a necessary requirement but the thing that we are mainly opposed to is that data centre in that location, that’s the problem, and there doesn’t seem to be a good enough, tangible enough explanation to why it’s there.
“They have suggested it’s linked to location because it’s a few degrees lower in temperature, but you could argue that anywhere north of Carlisle is continuously dropping in temperature.”
A second consultation event will be staged at Westruther Village Hall on Tuesday, June 10, and the developer intends to have further consultation with the community later this year.
Tweet Share on Facebook
