Just transition and onshore wind development correspondence: EIR release

Information requested

“All information that the Scottish Government holds, has prepared, and is preparing, in-house or through consultants or academics, in relation to the economic and social benefits of onshore wind in Scotland. In particular the economic benefits that onshore wind farms bring or will bring nationally and to the local communities and/or local authority areas in which the wind farms are based.

Specifically, I would like to request copies of all socio-economic and environmental impact analysis used in the development of National Planning Framework 4, published in February 2023; the Onshore Wind Policy Statement in 2022; and the Onshore Wind Sector Deal in 2023. I request details of all such analysis that has been produced, or is in production and details of which experts and/or organisations have carried out this analysis. In addition, any such analysis that has been carried to assess the social impact and human cost to those living in rural communities close to wind farms.

I also request details, including the dates, of all meetings between the windfarm developer, RES, and their agents with any member of the Scottish Government’s staff, and/or Scottish Government Ministers, the subject of those meetings and details of what was discussed, including the record of these meetings.”

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 exception 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 exception 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 exception. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exception, 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.

Questions 1&2
The Scottish Government produced a paper investigating the Macroeconomic Impact of Renewable Energy in Scotland. I have included a copy of the paper in Annex B (document 1).

In terms of the production of National Planning Framework 4, it was supported by the publication of an integrated impact assessment which can be found here.

A scoping report, and appendices covering Environmental Baseline information, and Society and Equalities that you may also find helpful are also available online via the above link.

The details of consultants contracted to undertake work for National Planning Framework 4 can be found within the papers themselves. For example, the research on lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions of National Planning Framework 4 national developments (found in the link above) was undertaken by Land Use Consultants Ltd., as stated in the ‘Useful Information’ tab.

The Scottish Government also commissioned the following research, completed in November 2023: Economic analysis of Scotland’s wind and hydrogen sectors (climatexchange.org.uk)

Question 3
I have provided a list of meetings held between the Scottish Government and RES below. Copies of notes for the meetings where held can be found in Annex B:

• 2 September 2015: The purpose was to discuss the Killean Wind Farm (Document 2).
• 28 April 2016: The purpose was to discuss a number of strategic issues (Document 3).
• 9 May 2016: The purpose was to discuss a number of strategic issues.
• 27 July 2017: The purpose was to discuss the Glenshero Wind Farm (Document 4).
• 27 September 2017: The purpose was to discuss the Glenshero Wind Farm (Document 5).
• 16 January 2018: The purpose was to discuss the Glenshero Wind Farm (Document 6).
• 7 September 2018: Attended by Scottish Government officials and RES. The purpose was to discuss the timeline of the Glenshero Wind Farm application.
• 28 February 2019: The purpose was to discuss the Glenshero Wind Farm (Document 7).
• 11 September 2019: Telephone call between RES and Scottish Government officials regarding the Glenshero project.
• 30 June 2021: Attended by RES and Scottish Government officials. The purpose was to discuss the handling of an application to vary Cairn Duhie Wind Farm.
• 28 August 2023: Attended by RES and Scottish Government officials. The purpose was a preapplication meeting for Killean Wind Farm.
• 31 October 2023: Attended by RES and Scottish Government officials. The purpose was to discuss the application status of Longcroft Wind Farm.

ANNEX A
Some of the information you requested has been withheld under regulations 10(5)(f) (Third Party interests). This exception 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 exception. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exception. We recognise that there is some public interest in releasing the information as part of an open, transparent and accountable government. However, this is outweighed by the greater public interest in allowing organisations to share commercial confidential information with the strict understanding that this information is held in confidence unless otherwise agreed.

A small amount of information has been withheld under Regulation 11(2) – Personal Data as it contains personal information and disclosing it would contravene the data protection principles in Article 5(1) of the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) and in Section 34(1) of the Data Protection Act 2018. This exception is not subject to the ‘public interest test’.

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.

EIR 202300389268 - Information Released - Annex B

File type

PDF

File size

527.4 kB