Publication - FOI/EIR release

All correspondence on the Felling Permission Applications: EIR release

Published: 17 October 2023
Topic: Public sector
FOI reference: FOI/202300355563
Date received: 8 May 2023
Date responded: 6 June 2023

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

Information requested

My Freedom of Information request relates to information you hold around a Felling Permission Application - FPA-8167 Auchendrane.

I would ask for information as follows:

For the period 1 January 2021 to 7 May 2023, please provide electronic copies of all correspondence between Scottish Forestry and [the landowner] relating to the Felling Permission, including any requests for extensions or variations to the Felling Permission.
For the period 1 January 2021 to 7 May 2023, please provide copies of all correspondence between Scottish Forestry and [the agent] (Director of RTS) and/or RTS Ltd relating to the Felling Permission, including any requests for extensions or variations to the Felling Permission.
For the period 1 January 2021 to 7 May 2023, please provide details of all on-site inspections of the Felling site by Scottish Forestry, including any reports produced by either Scottish Forestry or [the agent]/RTS relating to such on-site inspections
For the period 1 January 2021 to 7 May 2023, please provide details of any Scottish Forestry internal reviews or reports on the Implementation of and compliance with the Felling Permission.

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 point and has no material effect on the outcome of your request.

Response

Please find attached copies of the information we hold in relation to 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 an exception under regulation 11(2) of the EIRs (personal data relating to a third party) applies to some of the information you have requested. This information has been redacted in the attached documents.
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.