Scottish Forestry forest grant scheme applications: EIR release

Information requested

Copies of the full forest grant scheme applications for the following sites:

• Doughty Hill reference 19FGS42383;
• Doughty Hill Phase 2 reference 20FGS52865;
• Daljedburgh Woodland Creation reference 20FGS46663;
• Dates on which officers of Scottish Forestry have visited these sites.

Response

As the information you have requested is ‘environmental information’ for the purposes of the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (EIRs), we are required to deal with your request under those Regulations. We are applying the exemption at section 39(2) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA), so that we do not also have to deal with your request under FOISA.

This exemption is subject to the ‘public interest test’. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exemption, because there is no public interest in
dealing with the same request under two different regimes. This is essentially a technical pointand has no material effect on the outcome of your request.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide some of the information you have requested because exceptions under the following regulations:

An exception under the regulation 11(2) of the EIRs applies to some of the information you have requested; Reg 11(2) (Personal data relating to third party).

An exception under the regulation 10(5)(g) of the EIRs applies to some of the information you have requested. Reg 10(5)(g) (Protection of the Environment).

The reasons why these exceptions apply are explained in Annex A to this letter.

Dates of the site visits
At least one site visit is made by a woodland officer to each application and this is recorded as part of the application assessment process. The dates for the relevant cases are as follows:

• Doughty Hill reference 19FGS42383 - 1/10/2019
• Doughty Hill Phase 2 reference 20FGS52865 - 16/11/2020
• Daljedburgh Woodland Creation reference 20FGS46663 - 1/7/2020

Further site visits are often made to check specific aspects of a proposal before approval. After work is completed and claimed each woodland creation site is inspected to ensure that the work meets with the scheme requirements and the terms of the contract.

Due to the size of the files we are unable to upload the documents referred to above. If you wish to consider, please contact us at the address below and we will be happy to provide.

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 - 202100212978 - Information Released - Annex A

File type

1 page PDF

File size

148.8 kB