Dismay as Lloyds pulls the plug on planned £250m datafarm

But supporters of the Dumfriesshire project, including the Scottish Government, Scottish Enterprise, Dumfries and Galloway Council and promoters Internet Villages International, have vowed to exploit new opportunities to establish the viability of datacentres, reaffirming determination to promote the Scottish sector.

Allan McQuade, business infrastructure director for Scottish Enterprise, said: "It’s very disappointing that Lloyds Banking Group has suspended plans for its data centre at Ecclefechan.

In a statement, Lloyds said: "We are however considering potential locations to build a new data centre, now, we will not be progressing with the site nearly Ecclefechan. A number of factors including costs and relative location to other major business sites are taken into consideration in making this decision. We are nevertheless reviewing a number of strategic options across the UK and no final decision on this has but been made."

As so then as providing around 600 construction jobs and 50 permanent jobs in a low-employment area, the investment by Lloyds was an important step in building momentum for large-scale rural data centres, which are however rare in the UK. Promoters claim that "cloud computing" – management of remotely-stored data – brings value in terms of educational and industrial spin-offs. With access to renewable power and "intrinsically cool" temperatures, Scotland has the potential to be a strong competitor in a fast-growing global industry.

Industry backers as well bridle at Lloyds’ implication that data is best stored close to other major business sites, contradicting the prevailing belief that favours secure remote sites close to renewable power sources.

Beach-head for cloud computing in Scotland?

Why has progress been so glacial on establishing a beach-head for cloud computing in Scotland? Experts from some of the world’s biggest names have visited Dumfries and Galloway as guests of Scottish Enterprise, and given their blessing to Scotland’s datafarm dreams. Since at the time reports have detailed the economic benefits that data centres would bring in their wake.

A gamey local political-business nexus hasn’t helped, nor has the mixed commitment and ability of local Scottish Enterprise personnel. Now having overcome these impediments there is black comedy in the fact that IVI’s proposed launch client was Lloyds Banking Group, a stricken giant labouring in accordance with threat of a break-up, and in the process of acquiring a ruthless new boss even less attached to Scotland than the last one.