Cato Data Centre
Ahead in the cloud.
Built in Fife. Powered by Scotland. Setting the Standard for Sustainability.
Cato is the planned new green data centre, adjacent to the Mossmorran Gas Plant near Auchtertool in Fife. Powered by 100% renewable electricity. Designed for low water use. Shaped around genuine sustainability commitments.
This website sets out what Cato is, the high standard to which it has been designed, and outlines our wider commitments to sustainability and community benefits.
Come and meet the team
We are running community information sessions in Auchtertool where you can meet and sit down with the project team, see the plans in person and ask any questions you may have. These sessions are for people living in Auchtertool and the immediate surrounding area, and places are booked in advance, so please book a slot rather than turning up on the day. If a flyer came through your door, it has the details you need.
If you live further afield, we will also be holding an online session that anyone can join.
Details will be posted here once they are confirmed.
What is a data centre?
When a photo saves from your phone to ‘the cloud’, or you stream on Netflix, search on Google, use Facebook, or use an AI assistant, all of that runs on a computer server, in a building, somewhere. A data centre then is a physical thing, a building, an actual place in the real world in which to store and process all the information that enriches our modern lives. But they are more than just buildings.They are high tech, environmentally controlled, precision engineered environments, staffed by highly skilled and highly qualified engineers working across a range of disciplines. Modern data centres also host and train AI systems, alongside high density computing workloads such as climate change modelling.
Cato Viewpoints
Click the numbered viewpoints to see before and after imagery.
Each pair shows the same view from the same position. The first is a photograph of the view today. The second is a photomontage showing the view at year 10, once the new woodland, hedgerow and meadow planting has grown in.
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Current Status
An application for Planning Permission in Principle (PPP) has been submitted to Fife Council under reference 26/01243/PPP.
The current stage is public consultation on the PPP application. Comments can be submitted through the Fife Council Planning Portal until 24th July.
What is Planning Permission in Principle?
Planning Permission in Principle is an initial approval that establishes whether a development of this type is acceptable in principle on this site. It fixes the important parameters – the use, the site boundary, the maximum scale, the access arrangements, and the broad landscape and environmental strategy.
If PPP is granted, a second, more detailed application must be submitted and approved before construction can begin
Who decides?
The decision-maker is Fife Council. The application will be considered by the council’s planning committee, informed by:
- The recommendation of Fife Council’s Planning Service
- Responses from internal Fife Council consultees
- Responses from external statutory consultees
- Comments submitted by members of the public, community councils and other interested parties
Because Cato is a project of national significance, Scottish Ministers reserve the right to call the application in for their own determination. If that happens, the process moves to a Reporter appointed by the Scottish Government.
How to take part
Comment on the application
The most direct route is to submit a formal comment through the Fife Council Planning Portal, quoting reference 26/01243/PPP. Comments can be for the application, against it, or neutral. All comments received during the consultation period are read and considered as part of the determination.
The current consultation period runs until 24th July.
Come and meet the team
We are running community information sessions in Auchtertool where you can meet and sit down with the project team, see the plans in person and ask any questions you may have. These sessions are for people living in Auchtertool and the immediate surrounding area, and places are booked in advance, so please book a slot rather than turning up on the day. If a flyer came through your door, it has the details you need.
If you live further afield, we will also be holding an online session that anyone can join.
Details will be posted here once they are confirmed.