Lamb Hill and Castle Hill Environmental Impact Assessment screening opinion: EIR Review

Information requested

Original request 202500463464

Lamb Hill and Castle Hill EIA screening opinion (WCP-415/151.0425)

28 March 2025 EIA screening opinion for the above woodland creation scheme at Lamb Hill and Castle Hill at Lochwinnoch.

I would be grateful if you could send me all the information held by Scottish Forestry in respect of this screening opinion, including but not limited to the following:

1. All the documents held by Scottish Forestry relating to the screening opinion.

2. All the documents sent to Scottish Forestry in respect of the screening opinion from the applicant and/or any agent acting on behalf of the applicant.

3. All correspondence between Scottish Forestry and the applicant or any other third parties relating to the screening opinion (including the statutory consultation bodies for the purposes of the EIA process (the local authority(ies), SEPA, NatureScot and Historic Environment Scotland)).

4. Notes of any phone calls or other meetings between Scottish Forestry and the applicant and/or any agent acting on behalf of the applicant relating to the screening opinion.

5. A copy of the ‘HRA’ (which I assume refers to ‘habitats regulations assessment’) referred to at page one of the screening opinion.

6. A copy of the breeding bird survey referred to at page one of the screening opinion.

Response

I have now completed my review of your response to our request under the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (EIRs) which stated:

I refer to my EIR request dated 25/4/25 and to your response dated 21/5/25. Copies are attached for ease of reference.

You refused to disclose all the information requested with reference to the Regulation 10(4)(b) “the request for information is manifestly unreasonable” exception.

The explanation given in your response is that “…it would have a significant negative impact on our ability to deliver our statutory responsibility to promote sustainable forest management and our core functions of supporting and delivering the management and expansion of Scotland’s forests in line with the Scottish Government’s Forestry Strategy”.

The full text of your review request is contained in Annex A.

Response to the review request

I have now completed my review and have concluded that a modified decision is required.

I have made this decision on the basis that documents that relate to your request should be released, but that the original decision to apply the exception at Regulation 10(4 (b) manifestly unreasonable should be confirmed; I have set out my position below.

For your points as numbered in your original request as 1 – 4 there are no modifications.

We reached this decision, having interpreted the guidance from the Scottish Information Commissioner. To assess the information Scottish Forestry holds and what information may be in scope, we approached relevant leads/staff involved in this case to undertake searches for any relevant information.

Having reviewed their summaries and information provided involved in scoping and searching the information requested for 1 - 4, I am satisfied that we have identified a significant number of documents. These documents range from correspondence to fuller/lengthy documents that would require collation and assessment. I still consider that the diversion of the amount of experienced staff time to meet all aspects of the request would meet the criteria of Regulation 10(4)(b).

Whilst I accept some tasks associated with making the release of the relevant information can be undertaken by more junior staff, a significant amount would have to be assessed, reviewed and approved by mid and senior staff.

Colleagues did previously and I have again considered the public interest in making the relevant information available for this part of the request. I accept that knowledge and transparency of Scottish Forestry’s regulatory decisions is in the public interest, as in this case regarding a woodland creation application. I also accept that not all aspects of a regulatory process may be immediately apparent to our stakeholders and that greater understanding is too in the public interest. However, that is balanced against the steps within the regulatory processes which allow for scrutiny and public consultation. Furthermore, we provide a mechanism for people to contact a local Conservancy office and request specific documents, including Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Scoping Requests, Direction, Screening or Scoping Opinions, EIA Reports or Statements of Reasons. Therefore, and as the people involved with this case, they would be diverted from woodland creation work (part of their statutory regulatory duties) in order to fully release the relevant information, I believe on this occasion that the public interest in release is outweighed by the diversion of resources required to make it available.

However, under Regulation 9 of the EIRs and our duty to provide reasonable advice and assistance in our response we suggested that you may wish to narrow the terms of your search down to particular information or documents you are most interested in receiving. For your points numbered 5 and 6, with apologies, this review has found that these parts of your request were not properly handled as you had already identified specific documents. Please now find our revised response below:

5. A copy of the ‘HRA’ (which I assume refers to ‘habitats regulations assessment’) referred to at page one of the screening opinion.

Please find attached the information we hold in relation to your request.

6. A copy of the breeding bird survey referred to at page one of the screening opinion

Please find attached 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 10 (5)(g) of the EIRs (protection of the environment) and 11(2) of the EIRs (personal data relating to a third party) applies to some of the information you have requested. Please see Annex B for the reason these exceptions apply.

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.

EIR 202500468157 - Information released - Annex

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2.4 MB