Todrig woodland scheme consultation information: EIR release
Information request and response under the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004.
Information requested
I note that this is dated more than 3 months before the consultation period for the scheme expires, which is today.
Please can you send me a copy of all the applicant’s reports and all the consultation responses relied upon by SF in concluding that there could be no significant adverse environmental impacts from this 400 ha scheme, given that the cut off point below which there will not usually be considered to be significant impacts, as contemplated by the regulations, is 20 ha.
Can you please provide me with the date when this screening opinion was published to the public and where it was published.
Can you please take this letter as a consultation response from Restore Nature objecting to the scheme, at this time, on Landscape and ecology grounds.
Can you please extend the consultation period to provide us with an opportunity to provide informed representations having considered the documents referred to above which you considered as part of the screening process.
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 point and has no material effect on the outcome of your request.
Please can you send me a copy of all the applicant’s reports and all the consultation responses relied upon by SF in concluding that there could be no significant adverse environmental impacts from this 400 ha scheme, given that the cut off point below which there will not usually be considered to be significant impacts, as contemplated by the regulations, is 20 ha.
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 regulation 10(5)(g) the EIRs (Protection of the environment), 11(2) (personal information of third parties) and 10(5)(e) (commercial confidentiality) applies to some of the information you have requested and this information has been redacted or withheld in whole.
Please see Annex A for the reasons these exceptions apply.
Can you please provide me with the date when this screening opinion was published to the public and where it was published.
The EIA Screening Opinion for this project was approved on 23/12/2024.
Can you please take this letter as a consultation response from Restore Nature objecting to the scheme, at this time, on Landscape and ecology grounds.
We acknowledge this objection and can confirm that the Forestry Grant Scheme application is in the process of being considered comprehensively based on supporting information provided by the applicant and responses received from statutory and non-statutory consultees during the public register period.
Can you please extend the consultation period to provide us with an opportunity to provide informed representations having considered the documents referred to above which you considered as part of the screening process.
It is not possible to extend the consultation period for this application as we have no legal reason to do so. Consultation officially ended on the 1st of April 2025. Comments received between now and the end of our internal assessments may be considered, this is dependent on what stage of assessment the application is at.
About FOI
The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at https://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.
Contact
Please quote the FOI reference
Central Correspondence Unit
Email: contactus@gov.scot
Phone: 0300 244 4000
The Scottish Government
St Andrew's House
Regent Road
Edinburgh
EH1 3DG