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A proposed 200MW AI data-centre campus north of Research Avenue in Riccarton would face Green Belt and landscape tests if it proceeds to a full planning application, according to an Edinburgh Council committee report.
The report, dated 25 March 2026, describes the site as a 24-hectare agricultural field within the Green Belt and Gogar Special Landscape Area. It says the applicant would need to show the development is acceptable under Green Belt policy and demonstrate that it qualifies as a “green data centre” before it could be treated as a National Development under the National Planning Framework 4's Digital Fibre Network category.
The council report lists a heat and power plan and sustainability information among the material expected with a detailed application. It says the assessment should address matters including waste heat, renewable energy and energy efficiency, as well as landscape, noise, lighting, air quality, transport, flooding, ecology and heritage.
Those are tests for assessing a future application, not findings that the site is suitable or permission to build. The council portal page for 25/03978/PAN currently labels the case “Consultation Approved” and records that decision as issued on 22 August 2025. A Proposal of Application Notice approves a consultation process; it does not approve the data-centre development. The evidence reviewed for this story does not establish whether a separate full application has since been lodged.
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