Developer files plan for what it calls a 1GW data-centre campus at former Chapelcross nuclear site

CX Tech Limited (previously CX Power) has applied to Dumfries and Galloway Council for planning permission in principle for a data-centre campus on land north of the former Chapelcross nuclear power station near Annan. The council's planning portal lists the application as 26/1649/PIP, validated on 28 September 2026; the developer puts the project's potential investment at approximately £16.5 billion.

What has been filed

The application form describes the proposal as "Planning Permission in Principle for up to 162,000 sqm gross floor area (GFA) of data centre buildings, up to 1,100 sqm GFA of training centre, up to 6,500 sqm GFA of industrial units, substation and other associated infrastructure". It names CX Tech Limited as the applicant and the consultancy Quod as agent.

The developer's release of 29 September adds the headline figures:

• Capacity: approximately 1GW across eight data-centre buildings, "each with a capacity of approximately 120MW".
• Timing: delivery "over eight years". The application's non-technical summary says construction is "anticipated to commence in 2027, with the first Data Centre opening in 2029", and the whole development is anticipated to be operational by 2035.
• Water: closed-loop, non-evaporative air cooling, with operational water use "expected to be the equivalent of four houses per data centre per year".

The developer's website describes the plan as "a series of hyperscale, AI-enabled data centres". That is the developer's label. On operators, its FAQ says "Individual data centres would be occupied and operated as the campus develops"; it names none. The release says the application "establishes the proposed planning framework", with later development "subject to further design, commercial, planning and investment decisions".

The power question

The developer's FAQ says "direct and private-wire connections to wind, solar and biomass generation" are "being pursued".

The filed planning statement says the substation will connect to the existing Chapelcross substation and "to private wire connections with renewable energy developments across the region", then adds: "this connection infrastructure does not form part of the Proposed Development." The environmental report's non-technical summary says the effects of those private-wire connections "are potentially significant" and "could be significant".

The planning statement also sets out a carbon estimate. It says operation would produce about 25.9 million tonnes of CO2-equivalent over a 60-year assessment period, with server replacement "approximately 84.6% of whole life emissions". Operational energy was assessed on grid electricity "as a worst case". On that basis, it puts the project's emissions at 9.76% of Scotland's carbon budget for 2041 to 2045, or 1.49% when emissions arising outside Scotland, mainly from server replacement, are excluded.

Jobs: three numbers in circulation

• The developer's release says around 450 permanent direct jobs "will be created once the campus is operational", plus "750 construction jobs" and 40 apprenticeships in "each year of the eight-year construction programme".
• The filed planning statement estimates "approximately 540 full-time equivalent posts on the Site during operation", of which approximately 432 are associated with the data centres.
• STV reported the developer as saying the site "could create around 500 jobs".

The planning statement's 540 includes "approximately 105 associated with the industrial units and a minimum of three associated with the training centre"; its data-centre figure of about 432 is close to the release's 450.

Opposition

STV reported on 30 September that Scottish Greens MSP Laura Moodie called the application "one of the most seriously concerning data centre applications to date" and said it "must be rejected". Lewis-Ann Garner, of the Say NO to Chapelcross AI Data Centre campaign, told STV "we have only four weeks to read 166 documents", and said the plan "is on agricultural fields and not the decommissioned nuclear site". The application form itself describes the site as "predominantly grassland" and "used in part for agricultural purposes"; the planning statement says the southern portion comprises the former RAF base and power station.

FutureScot reported that a petition against the plan had "nearly 3,000 signatures". Action to Protect Rural Scotland is urging people to object.

Responding to critics, a CX Technology Campus spokesperson told STV the campus "has been designed to use only locally and regionally generated renewable energy" and "will not compete with local homes and businesses for their electricity supply".

When we checked the portal on 3 October it showed no public comments. It lists a consultation expiry date of 29 October 2026.

The Holyrood backdrop

On 16 September, MSPs voted for a pause on AI data-centre decisions, though the vote isn't binding. The motion as agreed, 80 votes to 26 with 15 abstentions, asks ministers to report back on national planning guidance by the end of the year and publish it "in full within 12 months", and "believes that no decisions on planning or consenting in relation to such applications should be made until this has been completed". The Scotsman reported that the vote "is not binding".

The applicant's planning statement says two Scottish Government directions now apply to data centres over 50MW: one requiring ministers to be notified, and one, in force from 17 September 2026, requiring an environmental impact assessment. It says the application is accompanied by an EIA report.

Why it matters

On our reading, Chapelcross is an early test of the regime Holyrood debated last month. FutureScot reports that, if approved, it "would be among the largest datacentre developments proposed in the UK", and it arrives less than two weeks after MSPs' non-binding call for a pause on decisions. The developer's website lists "Planning Permission in Principle targeted for December 2026"; ministers argued they did not expect applications to be determined before the guidance, according to The Scotsman. And the private-wire power supply the developer says it is pursuing sits outside this application.