The Chapelcross data centre proposal has entered the planning system, with CX Tech seeking permission in principle for a campus it says could attract approximately £16.5bn of investment and provide around 1GW of potential capacity.
The scheme would bring eight data-centre buildings, a training centre, industrial space and electrical infrastructure to land north of the former Chapelcross nuclear power station near Annan. It arrives just as Scotland introduces tougher environmental assessment requirements for large data centres.
The Chapelcross data centre application seeks a planning decision, rather than confirming approval or a commitment to deliver the whole campus. Power supply, environmental effects and the detail of an eight-year development programme will all matter as the proposal is assessed.
What the Chapelcross data centre application seeks
Application 26/1649/PIP seeks Planning Permission in Principle from Dumfries and Galloway Council for a data centre, training centre, industrial buildings, substation and associated infrastructure.
Published application listings record receipt on 21st September 2026, validation on 28th September 2026 and an assessment-stage status. They currently give 29th October 2026 as the comments deadline. Anyone responding should check the current dates and documents on the council’s application record.
CX Tech describes a roughly 55-hectare campus with up to 162,000 square metres of data-centre floorspace across eight buildings. Its application announcement gives approximately 120MW per building and around 1GW for the campus.
Those are approximate figures. Eight lots of 120MW total 960MW, so the headline 1GW should be understood as the developer’s rounded description of potential capacity, rather than a precise statement of an already secured electricity connection.
Permission in principle still leaves detail to follow
For the Chapelcross data centre, permission in principle would establish the acceptability and planning framework of the development, subject to any conditions imposed. It would not mean that every detailed component was ready for construction.
Later approvals would need to address matters required by the permission’s conditions. Detailed design, infrastructure, phasing and investment would still have to come together before the individual stages could proceed.
The distinction matters for both supporters and opponents. The council must consider the scale and environmental effects of the development now, while the application’s broad parameters must be clear enough to guide and constrain later detail.
Equally, a positive decision would not guarantee £16.5bn of spending. That is the developer’s potential investment estimate, with delivery dependent on consent, operators, commercial decisions and finance.
Scotland’s new 50MW EIA rule meets a major live proposal
Scotland’s new data-centre EIA Direction took effect on 17th September 2026. It makes development exceeding 50MW mandatory EIA development where it also falls within the specified Schedule 2 industrial estate or urban development descriptions.
We explain the legal qualification in our existing article on Scotland’s mandatory data centre EIA requirement. It is a Scottish measure, so English EIA procedures should not simply be transferred to this application.
The Chapelcross data centre is proposed at a scale far above that threshold. CX Tech says an extensive environmental assessment has been submitted alongside the application, following earlier scoping work.
EIA is a process of assessment, consultation and examination of environmental information. Submission of a report is not a finding by the council that the development’s effects are acceptable.
The Chief Planner’s letter and Direction identify concerns including energy, water, carbon emissions, landscape, biodiversity, soils, noise and air quality associated with backup generation. These are central planning questions for a campus of this scale.
Power supply for the Chapelcross data centre
CX Tech points to an adjacent 132kV Grid Supply Point and renewable generation in the surrounding area. Its formal announcement identifies around 1GW of consented or planned renewable generation within 5km and around 2GW within 20km.
That wording needs care. Consented generation, planned generation and electricity actually available to a customer are different things. Nearby generating capacity does not, by itself, establish a contracted and deliverable supply to the campus.
For the Chapelcross data centre, the developer is pursuing direct and private-wire renewable connections, with existing grid infrastructure intended to provide balancing and resilience. Its proposed renewable mix includes wind, solar and biomass.
For delivery, the important questions are which sources would serve each phase, when they could become available and how supply would remain reliable. The published claims should not be read as proof that a full 1GW connection has already been secured.
Cooling, generators and landscape need scrutiny
CX Tech proposes closed-loop, non-evaporative cooling for the Chapelcross data centre, with water recirculated rather than continuously evaporated. It estimates annual operational consumption equivalent to around 32 households across the campus.
That is the applicant’s estimate, which needs to be tested against the technical evidence and consultation responses. The design also needs to deal with initial filling, maintenance and the wider water environment.
Backup generators are proposed for interruptions and routine testing, using fossil-free fuel according to the developer. Their emissions, noise and operating assumptions remain relevant even if they are not intended to provide normal daily power.
The developer’s FAQs say the data-centre buildings have been assessed at a maximum height of 40 metres. At that scale, siting, screening and views from nearby communities are substantial issues, alongside ecology, drainage, traffic and cumulative effects.
Supporters see investment; opponents question the impact
Graeme Anderson, CX Tech’s chief executive, described the scheme in STV’s coverage as “a once-in-a-generation opportunity for Dumfries and Galloway and for Scotland”.
Scottish Green MSP Laura Moodie has called for rejection. Holyrood reported her warning that the submitted proposal “endangers our energy supply and natural environment”.
Local campaigners have also raised landscape and consultation concerns. These objections and the developer’s environmental assurances are competing positions, rather than conclusions already reached through the planning process.
Comparisons with the electricity consumption of millions of homes depend on assumptions about annual operating hours and household demand. Potential power capacity is not the same measurement as actual annual consumption.
Chapelcross data centre jobs figures need clarification
The Chapelcross data centre’s employment claims are not consistent across CX Tech’s current publications.
Its formal application announcement and FAQs refer to around 450 permanent direct jobs. Its homepage instead says around 540 permanent direct jobs once fully developed.
Both describe direct permanent employment, so there is no published explanation here that allows us to treat the difference as indirect jobs or separate phases. The figures need clarification against the application’s socioeconomic evidence.
For the Chapelcross data centre, the developer also anticipates around 750 construction jobs and 40 local apprenticeships for each construction year. These are forecasts, rather than jobs already created.
National guidance remains part of the planning picture
On 16th September 2026, the Scottish Parliament agreed an amended motion on hyperscale data centres, expressing the view that planning or consenting decisions should wait until the guidance process it described was completed.
The final motion did not itself create a statutory moratorium. The mandatory EIA Direction and the separate August notification requirement have legal effect; the parliamentary motion records Parliament’s position.
Our current checks have not identified a later statutory measure imposing a blanket ban on determining hyperscale applications. It would therefore be inaccurate to describe the Chapelcross application as legally prohibited simply because Parliament debated a pause.
What happens next?
CX Tech’s website indicates phased construction of the Chapelcross data centre from 2027 to 2035, subject to the necessary consents. That programme is an ambition, not an approved start date.
The developer has announced community information events at Victoria Halls in Annan on 20th October 2026 and Creca Village Hall on 21st October 2026, both from 4pm to 7pm.
The next planning-stage questions are how consultees respond, whether more environmental information is required and how the council addresses the proposed parameters and power strategy. Any later decision must be assessed on its actual terms, rather than treated as confirmation that the entire campus will be built.
For those following major infrastructure proposals, the Chapelcross data centre is a useful test of how Scotland’s new scrutiny works in practice: a very large investment claim, matched by equally substantial questions about deliverable power, environmental effects and local benefit.
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