Mitigation of environmental concerns in Stromar Western Landfall decision: EIR release

Information requested

1. Any environmental assessments, internal briefings, or memos that examine whether and how the environmental concerns (which contributed to the decision to move landfall) were expected to be mitigated or resolved by the Western site selection.

2. Records of consultation or correspondence between Marine Scotland (or any relevant Scottish Government body) and:

• NatureScot,
• SEPA,
• RSPB,
• or local authorities

regarding the environmental implications of the Western Landfall after it was selected or proposed.

3. Any documents or meeting notes in which the developer (Stromar) was asked to justify or evidence that the environmental concerns influencing the change had been addressed or neutralised at the new landfall location.

4. If no such assessments or consultations occurred prior to or following the landfall shift, please confirm this explicitly.

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. While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide all of the information you have requested because an exception under regulation 10(4)(a) (information not held) of the EIRs applies. Under the terms of this exception, the Scottish Government is not required to provide information which it does not have.

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 mitigations for the Stromar project, no application has been submitted, clearly we cannot provide information which we do not hold.

1. While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide all of the information you have requested because an exception under regulation 10(4)(a) (information not held) of the EIRs applies. Under the terms of this exception, the Scottish Government is not required to provide information which it does not have.

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 the environmental implications of the Western Landfall, clearly we cannot provide information which we do not hold.

1. While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide all of the information you have requested because an exception under regulation 10(4)(a) (information not held) of the EIRs applies. Under the terms of this exception, the Scottish Government is not required to provide information which it does not have.

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 the environmental concerns regarding the Stromar project, clearly we cannot provide information which we do not hold.

1. Following the conclusion of the Environmental Impact Assessment Scoping process, the Marine Directorate – Licensing Operations Team (“MD-LOT”) has not received any further environmental information in relation the cable landfall and therefore no further consultation have occurred. In addition, I confirm that to date, no applications for section 36 consent or marine licences have been received by MD-LOT in respect of the Stromar Offshore Wind Farm.

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.