Effects of battery storage site located near Dalkeith Campus school: EIR release

Information requested

1) Copies of all safety assessments, environmental assessments and risk assessments obtained and considered as part of the Energy Consent Units deliberation, consideration and consent of the proposed battery storage site in close proximity to the Dalkeith Campus school in Midlothian. 

2) Copies of any reports or consultations with Scottish Fire Service or any private fire safety consultants.

3) Copies of any land surveys and reports that have been sought which opines on the suitability and stability of the land on which the battery storage units will be housed.

4) Copies of any water and waste water surveys and reports obtained that opined on the risk to the local water supplies (particularly to the school campus) of contamination

5) Copies of any surveys and reports that opined on the risk and proximity of the proposed battery storage site to gas pipelines and legacy coal seams in the area. I would appreciate a clear and full response given the close proximity of this proposed build to several schools, particularly given the availability of significant parcels of land in Midlothian that are a safe distance from school infrastructure.

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.

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 information) applies to some of the information.
• Under regulation 6(1)(b) of the EIRs, we do not have to give you information which is already publicly available and easily accessible to you in another form or format. 

The information you requested is available from the Energy Consents Portal at www.energyconsents.scot. This resource allows for full transparency of each application made by publishing all documents relating to an application.

The Battery Energy Storage site referred to as being in close proximity to the Dalkeith Campus School in Midlothian is formally known as the Salters Battery Energy Storage System. The application can be accessed directly through the following link: Scottish Government - Energy Consents Unit - Application Details.

We have identified the documents relevant to each of the queries raised and have listed their titles in bullet points below. Unfortunately, we cannot provide a direct hyperlink to each document due to the nature of the website’s coding, but they can be found under the ‘Application Documents’ and ‘Consultation Responses’ sections. 

1. All Safety assessments, environmental assessments and risk assessments considered by the Energy Consents Unit for the Salters Battery Energy Storage System can be found here:

• Ecological Impact Assessment (ECIA)
• Planning Support Statement
• Phase 1 Preliminary Risk Assessment and Coal Mining Risk Assessment
• Consultation with Midlothian Council

2. The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) is not a statutory consultee for BESS development applications in Scotland, although they are consulted for BESS applications under Section 36 of the Electricity Act 1989. If, however, SFRS receive information about a proposed BESS site they refer those duty holders (site operators) responsible for the plant to the National Fire Chief Council's (NFCC) Grid Scale Planning Guidance for FRS. The Scottish Fire Service was consulted by the Energy Consent Unit for the Salters Battery Energy Storage System - See Annex A. However, they did not provide a response within the prescribed timeline for consultees.

3. Details of surveys undertaken can be found here: 

• Land Capability for Agriculture (LCA) Assessment Report 
• Consultation with Midlothian Council

4. Details on water and wastewater surveys can be found here:

• Flood Risk Assessment and Conceptual Drainage Strategy
• Outline Construction Environmental Plan
• Consultation with Scottish Water
• Consultation with Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA)

5. Reports on gas pipelines can be found here:

• Planning Support Statement
• Phase 1 Preliminary Risk Assessment and Coal Mining Risk Assessment
• Consultation with Southern Gas Network (SGN)
• Further consultation with SGN
• Consultation with Coal Authority

Please also note, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) regulates BESS under a robust regulatory regime which requires BESS designers, installers and operators to take the necessary measures throughout all stages of the system’s construction, operation and decommissioning to ensure health and safety.

Exceptions used
An exception under regulation 11(2) of the EIRs (personal information) applies to some of the information requested because it is personal data of a third party and disclosing it would contravene the data protection principles in Article 5(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation and in section 34(1) of the Data Protection Act 2018. This exception is not subject to the 'public interest test', so we are not required to consider if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exception.

An exception 6(1)(b) of the EIRs (information already available) 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, as the information is already publicly available.

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.

FOI 202500469832 - Information Released - Annex A

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