Todrig Woodland Creation: EIR Review
Information request and response under the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004.
Information requested
Original Request 202500470702
What I'm after are details of the EIA screening opinion application and the woodland creation application that was subsequently submitted.
According to the EIA Register the screening opinion that I understand was provided on 23 December 2024 concludes that 'Consent Not Required'. The Woodland Creation Application Guidance confirms that the "opinion will be accompanied by a written statement giving the main reasons for the conclusion". Could you please let me have copies of the screening opinion decision letter, the accompanying written statement, the 'plan' that was submitted by the scheme promoter and the responses from consultees which informed the ScotFor conclusion that an EIA was not required.
Although aware of the proposals for the Whitslaid site via an advert in the Southern Reporter for an 'open day' at Ashkirk Village Hall on 23 November 2023, which I attended, I had no knowledge of the Todrig proposals until very recently. It seems that 'drop-in' events were held at Ashkirk Village Hall on 18/19 August 2023 and 9/10 February 2024 following a letter drop and email invitation but as far as I can tell these were not advertised in the local press. Could you please confirm if this was the case and whether or not this is in accordance with ScotFor guidance.
The Woodland Creation application details I have now seen appear to be incomplete with the attachments sent to consultees on 5 March not including items 11, 13, 14 and 15 and would like to know what these cover. The Woodland Creation Plan (or Updated Ops Plan) refers to various surveys and plans that are not included in what was sent to consultees and for some reason Annex 2, Issues Log, has not been completed which makes it difficult to fully understand what is proposed and why an EIA was not considered to be required.
I'm more familiar with planning application procedures where all of the documents submitted are available to view online on the Planning Portal. Similarly, consultation responses and representations made normally appear on the Portal shortly after these are made but it seems that ScotFor procedures are very different. I thought it might be possible to view these at your Selkirk office yesterday and would be happy to call in again if that would be helpful.
Response
I have completed my review of our response to your request under the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (EIRs) and have determined that the original decision should be upheld with modifications, as detailed below.
What I'm after are details of the EIA screening opinion application and the woodland creation application that was subsequently submitted.
According to the EIA Register the screening opinion that I understand was provided on 23 December 2024 concludes that 'Consent Not Required'. The Woodland Creation Application Guidance confirms that the "opinion will be accompanied by a written statement giving the main reasons for the conclusion". Could you please let me have copies of the screening opinion decision letter, the accompanying written statement, the 'plan' that was submitted by the scheme promoter and the responses from consultees which informed the ScotFor conclusion that an EIA was not required.
Although aware of the proposals for the Whitslaid site via an advert in the Southern Reporter for an 'open day' at Ashkirk Village Hall on 23 November 2023, which I attended, I had no knowledge of the Todrig proposals until very recently. It seems that 'drop-in' events were held at Ashkirk Village Hall on 18/19 August 2023 and 9/10 February 2024 following a letter drop and email invitation but as far as I can tell these were not advertised in the local press. Could you please confirm if this was the case and whether or not this is in accordance with ScotFor guidance.
The Woodland Creation application details I have now seen appear to be incomplete with the attachments sent to consultees on 5 March not including items 11, 13, 14 and 15 and would like to know what these cover. The Woodland Creation Plan (or Updated Ops Plan) refers to various surveys and plans that are not included in what was sent to consultees and for some reason Annex 2, Issues Log, has not been completed which makes it difficult to fully understand what is proposed and why an EIA was not considered to be required.
I'm more familiar with planning application procedures where all of the documents submitted are available to view online on the Planning Portal. Similarly, consultation responses and representations made normally appear on the Portal shortly after these are made but it seems that ScotFor procedures are very different. I thought it might be possible to view these at your Selkirk office yesterday and would be happy to call in again if that would be helpful.
Further to the 10 July letter from Corporate Support Manager and the documents emailed the same day regarding the above, a review of the response is requested, as I am not at all happy with the way this has been handled. In addition to the Todrig FWC EIA screening opinion, my 12 June email also requested details of the plan or application made by the scheme promoter and referred to in the first sentence of the 23 December 2024 screening opinion. I also asked to see the responses from consultees that informed the ScotFor decision that an EIA was not required, but it is not clear which, if any, of the many documents received relate to the screening opinion consultation.
I conducted a thorough re-examination of our original decision and carefully reviewed all the documents, which were sent to you in three separate emails on 10 July 2025 and cross-checked them against the previous and new search results I requested for this review. I concluded that the documents were redacted and sent in three emails based on their size after redactions, rather than strictly following the original organisational structure used by the Conservancy officers to transfer the documents to the National Office. That original structure included four separate folders: screening opinion, requested consultation responses, released documents, and application documents. I have recreated this original order in the schedule of information regarding the documents for release, which should clarify the chronology of responses, community engagement events, actions taken, and how decisions were reached. This schedule is now enclosed as Annex B of this response letter.
I have also asked two other officers from the Conservancy to conduct searches for information on their devices, and no new information was found therefore I am content that the information in scope of the request has been found. These searches confirmed the previously identified number of documents to be released, and the same exceptions apply to the information that was withheld, as explained to you in the response to your original request. However, the Conservancy identified that the reports submitted to Restore Nature were used to inform the screening opinion; therefore, they might be of interest to you and fall within the scope of your request for information. I have attached these reports with my review response, alongside the schedule for additionaldocuments, which is attached as Annex C separately from Annex B, with the previously released documents schedule.
Scottish Forestry continues to improve operational processes and how we engage with members of the public and local communities, as well as disseminate information. You may already know that Scottish Forestry began publishing all screening decisions from 25 June 2025, and this information is available to everyone at:
scottishforestry-publicregister.oncreate.app/w/webpage/prhome- pep?webpage_subpage_id=PAG0000236GBLNM1&webpage_token=eb1df62ac093774cad10b 1decb59d7739b25c61d88b30cfa77d60fb2f718fc74
The pre-application 'drop-in' events do not seem to have been advertised in the local press. Confirmation was also sought if this was the case, and, if so, whether or not it meets ScotFor community engagement requirements for forestry creation proposals.
Under Regulation 6 (1) (b) of the EIRs, we are not required to provide you with information that is readily available online. Where information is already publicly available, I have provided you with the links to the relevant webpages. If, however, you do not have Internet access to obtain the information from the Scottish Forestry’s website listed below, then please contact me again, and I will send you a paper copy.
This document outlines Scottish Forestry’s guidance on community engagement and public consultation processes: https://www.forestry.gov.scot/publications/1496-forestry-engagement- and-consultation-processes/viewdocument/1496
For further information on public engagement, please visit the Scottish Forestry website at: For further information on public engagement, please visit the Scottish Forestry website at:
I can confirm that neither the Conservancy nor the Scottish Forestry’s National Office hold any information on whether these events were advertised in the local papers. Therefore, under Regulation 10 (4) (a) of the EIRs, we are not obliged to provide information that we do not hold at the time the request was received. This exception is subject to the ‘public interest test.’ Despite not holding this information, we have a statutory obligation to apply this 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 information about whether these engagement events with local communities were advertised in the newspapers, clearly we cannot provide information that we do not hold.
I can also confirm that all the information held by Scottish Forestry regarding the actions and steps taken to ensure engagement and communication with the public and local communities, along with all relevant documents, was sent to you via email on 10 July 2025.
Clarification was also requested as to why documents 11, 13, 14 and 15 were not sent to woodland grant application consultees on 5 March 2025 and what these cover. I also wanted to know why Annex 2, the Issues Log, of the Woodland Creation Plan had not been completed. The version that has now been provided appears to be an early draft and I would like to see the final version.
I have now provided a copy of the schedule of the information released to you on 10 July 2025 and released ten additional documents identified as falling within the scope of your request and can confirm that we hold no other records, documents or information within the scope of your request. Within these documents regulation 11 (2) and 10 (5) (g) have been applied; the reason for the application of these exceptions can be found in Annex A.
The documents that have documents are in three zipped files. The first two are an apparently random collection of documents with redactions making it difficult to follow what has happened, perhaps deliberately so. The third zipped file only seems to comprise a 5 May 2023 email from Pryor & Rickett referring to a consultation letter and accompanying maps for Todrig NWC sent to 'relevant parties'. Am I missing something? The information requested in my 12 June email was not made under the EIR as stated in the 13 June letter. Most of these should have been provided on request especially as a visit was made to the ScotFor office and my 12 June made clear I was willing to do so again. You should be aware that a formal complaint is also being made to the South of Scotland Conservator.
The answer related to the three zipped folders and not strictly adhering to the original folder structure used by the Conservancy officers who completed the searches was provided in my response to your first point and explains the reason for modifying the original response to your EIR request; we apologise for this. Referring to your above statement that ‘The information requested in my 12 June email was not made under the EIR as stated in the 13 June letter, since the information you requested is environmental information, Scottish Forestry, as one of Scottish public authorities, is legally obligated to handle and respond to your request under the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (EIRs) regime, within twenty working days of receiving your request. This means that if you have submitted a request for environmental information that falls under the EIRs, the authority must acknowledge your request and provide a response, even if they do not hold the information. I can confirm that the National Office is aware of the stage one complaint, and we hold a copy of both the complaint and the Conservancy’s response, and I had the sight of it. For more details on how we manage complaints, please refer to Scottish Forestry’s website at: Scottish Forestry - Complaints
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Contact
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