Isle of Skye shooting and deer stalking rights: FOI release

Information request and response under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.


FOI reference: FOI/17/03022
Date received: 13 December 2017
Date responded: 19 Decemeber 2017

Information requested

The general information we would like is (1) the number of leases that the Scottish Government currently grants for sporting rights – shooting and deer stalking – on its land on the Isle of Skye, (2) the average rent per Hectare paid annually by the sporting tenants and (3) the current terms and conditions of the Scottish Government's sporting lease agreements.

More specifically we would like information on the area let, rent and terms of the lease of Strath Suardal.

Response

We have 6 sporting leases which contain shooting on the Isle of Skye and these are detailed on the spreadsheet attached. I have provided the area of each shooting lease and the annual rental amount, net of VAT. I have not supplied the average rent per hectare as you request, because we do not hold this information since it is not in itself directly relevant to the setting of rents, and we are not obliged under FOISA to provide information we do not hold. However, the figure is readily accessible to you by calculation. As context, I would mention that, as you will be aware, our shootings in North Skye contain only nominal numbers of deer and the sporting rentals reflect this. Our Deer returns over the past 7 years for Kilbride average 4 stags and 5 hinds per year. To provide further context and background, where there is a combination of Salmon Fishing and Sport I have also detailed the Rateable Valuation of the Salmon Fishing.

I have also copied you the redacted Sporting Lease for our Kilbride Estate which covers Strath Suardal enabling you to see the conditions within the lease. The information redacted from this document is the personal data of third parties, which is exempt from release under FOISA s38(1)(b).

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses

FOI-17-03022-Leases.xls
FOI-17-03022-Kilbride Sporting Lease.pdf

Contact

Please quote the FOI reference

Central Enquiry Unit
Email: ceu@gov.scot
Phone: 0300 244 4000

The Scottish Government
St Andrew's House
Regent Road
Edinburgh
EH1 3DG

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