Publication - FOI/EIR release

Scottish Government Planning and Environmental Appeals Division win-170-2004: EIR release

Published: 12 April 2021
Directorate: Energy and Climate Change Directorate
Topic: Environment and climate change, Public sector
FOI reference: FOI/202100141024
Date received: 25 January 2021
Date responded: 19 February 2021

Information request and response under the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004

Information requested

The Scottish Government Planning and Environmental Appeals Division’s Report to Scottish Ministers case ref WIN-170-2004.

All background emails and correspondence (both internally with Scottish Government or with external parties) relating to the letter from Alan Brogan in ECU, to NLEI Limited dated 8th January 2021, relating to the Refusal of the Application for consent under Section 36 of the Electricity Act and Deemed Planning Permission under Section 57(2) of the Town & Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997 for the construction and operation of North Lowther Energy Initiative Wind Farm in Dumfries & Galloway.

You provided clarification, The Scottish Government Planning and Environmental Appeals Division’s Report to Scottish Ministers case ref WIN-170-2004 was intended to refer to which ever document(s) were produced and submitted to the Minister beyond what has been published. I don’t know what you call the report within your division in order to ask for it by name but “Any report, correspondence, memos or notes of meetings in relation to the decision making and ultimate decision taken in case reference WIN-170-2004, including any communication between Planning and Environmental Appeals Division and the Scottish Ministers” should cover the scope of our request.

All background emails and correspondence (both internally with Scottish Government or with external parties) is intended to refer to emails and other correspondence (including any telephone file notes) which “reference the consideration of the content of the decision letter” (per your letter) but should also extend to reference of the s36 application as a whole.

Response

Attached is a copy of most of the information you requested.

Some of the information you have requested, references to DPEA's Report to Scottish Minsters dated 21 October 2020, is available to view from www.energyconsents.scot at reference ECU00000426 at "Determinations". Under regulation 6(1)(b) of the EIRs, we do not have to give you information which is already publicly available and easily accessible to you in another form or format.

An exception under regulation 11(2) of the EIRs (personal information) applies to some of the information requested ( DPEA's Interested party List) because it is personal data of a third party and disclosing it would contravene the data protection principles in Article 5(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation and in section 34(1) of the Data Protection Act 2018. This exception is not subject to the 'public interest test', so we are not required to consider if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exception.

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