Maintenance operations at Stobo Hope: EIR release

Information requested

It is understood media organisations were made aware that the agents for True North Real Asset Partners, Euroforest Silviculture (previously called Pryor and Rickett Silviculture) were allowed to resume what was alleged to be maintenance work and further planting at Stobo Hope at the start of April 2025. This was in spite of these agents and the landowners, the Forestry Carbon Sequestration Fund being the subject of an Enforcement Notice prohibiting work until further notice.

Did Scottish Forestry issue a Variation to the Enforcement Notice or similar document to the agents and/or managers and/or landowners, permitting work to resume at Stobo?

If so, when was this? How many Notices of Variation have been issued to these agents/managers/landowners?

Did Euroforest Silviculture carry out work on site at Stobo as a result of this/these Notice(s) of Variation, and if so how long for? Were any trees planted?

Please provide the Notice(s) of Variation, clearly showing the date of this/these Notice(s) of Variation.

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) Did Scottish Forestry issue a Variation to the Enforcement Notice or similar document to the agents and/or managers and/or landowners, permitting work to resume at Stobo?

Scottish Forestry did issue an amendment to the Enforcement notice to allow for some maintenance operations to take place.

2) If so, when was this? How many Notices of Variation have been issued to these agents/managers/landowners?

The initial enforcement notice issued on 10th September 2024 stopping all works and a statement of reasons to accompany this enforcement notice were issued on 18th February 2025, the result of which was to determine that Stobo will require EIA consent. Copies of those documents are published here.

Subsequently, Scottish Forestry issued a variation to the enforcement notice to allow for some maintenance operations to take place on site. This notice was dated 23 March 2025 and was served on 26 March 2025. The specific activities covered were beating up (process of replacing trees that had died during the first growing season), hand weeding and the reinstatement of an unauthorised track. In addition, the notice also listed other activities which, irrespective of the enforcement notice, the landowner can do as part of normal land management activities such as repair of boundary fences, deer management and removal of livestock.

The Enforcement notice dated 23 March 2025 and served on 26 March 2025 was subsequently withdrawn by a further notice issued on 2 April 2025. This clarified that no works associated with the EIA forestry project could take place.

3) Did Euroforest Silviculture carry out work on site at Stobo as a result of this/these Notice(s) of Variation, and if so how long for? Were any trees planted?

Euroforest have reported that they had planted 100 trees during this time period but that they had not carried out any other works.

4) Please provide the Notice(s) of Variation, clearly showing the date of this/these Notice(s) of Variation.

Please find attached copies of the Enforcement notice variations.

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 of a third party) applies to some of the information you have requested and this information has been redacted.

Please see Annex A for the reason this exceptions applies.

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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 202500474226 - Information released - Annex

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