Correspondence regarding community benefit payments: EIR release
Information request and response under the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004
Information requested
I'm writing to make a freedom of information request under the FOI act.
Please can you provide details of any correspondence received by the Scottish Government, its ministers, and officials from representatives of the renewable energy relating to community benefit payments from onshore wind farms in Scotland since the start of 2025. In particular I am interested in any lobbying relating to a potential lowering of the Scottish Government's £5000 per MW best practice for community benefits from onshore wind.
Among representatives of the renewable energy industry I include trade bodies like RenewableUK and Scottish Renewables as well as renewable energy companies themselves.
The information released should include any email correspondence, text messages, whatsapps, and minutes of meetings in which this is discussed.
Response
We have enclosed some of the information you have requested at Annex B.
Exceptions under Regulation 11(2) (personal data), Regulation 10(4)(d) (material in the course of completion), and Regulation 10(5)(f) (substantial prejudice to interests of the person who provided the information) of the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (EIRs) apply to parts of the information. The reasons why these exceptions apply are outlined in Annex A.
This includes consultation responses submitted as part of the ongoing review of the Good Practice Principles (GPPs), which may contain views or comments relevant to this request.
These responses are currently being analysed and are considered material still in the course of completion, and are therefore withheld under Regulation 10(4)(d). They will be published in the autumn.
All exceptions applied are subject to the public interest test, except Regulation 11(2), which relates to personal data. We have considered whether the public interest in disclosure outweighs the public interest in applying the exceptions and, on balance, have concluded that the public interest lies in favour of upholding them.
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.
Contact
Please quote the FOI reference
Central Correspondence Unit
Email: contactus@gov.scot
Phone: 0300 244 4000
The Scottish Government
St Andrew's House
Regent Road
Edinburgh
EH1 3DG