Scottish Forestry funding to Brewdog Lost Forest project: EIR release

Information requested

1. How much money has Scottish Forestry provided in total to the Brewdog Lost Forest project, with a breakdown of what the money was spent on?

2. Could you provide the latest progress report for this project received by Scottish Forestry?

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.

1. How much money has Scottish Forestry provided in total to the Brewdog Lost Forest project, with a breakdown of what the money was spent on?

Grants paid to date total £1,107,420.88. £881,565.16 for Phase 1 and £225,855.72 for phase 2. Grants paid to date went towards the costs of establishment for fencing, planting and maintenance.

2. Could you provide the latest progress report for this project received by Scottish Forestry?

We have not received a progress report however our visits to the site indicate that the forestry agents have been undertaking replacement of trees which died following initial planting. The forestry agent has requested that the remaining works in Phase 2 be delayed by a year due to operational constraints.

A map of the approved areas can be seen on Scottish Forestry - Scottish Forestry Map Viewer

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance Scottish Forestry does not have the information you have requested. Therefore we are refusing your request under the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs. The reasons why that exception applies are explained/in the Annex to this letter.

ANNEX A

REASONS FOR NOT PROVIDING INFORMATION

Regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs (information not held)
Under the terms of the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs (information not held), Scottish Forestry is not required to provide information which it does not have. Scottish Forestry does not have the information you have requested because it has not been provided with a progress report.

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. While we recognise that there may be some public interest in a progress report on this project, clearly we cannot provide information which we do not hold.

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.