Inclusion of Travelling Showpeople within National and Local Planning Policy in Scotland: EIR release

Information requested

The following information relating to the inclusion of Travelling Showpeople within national and local planning policy in Scotland:

1. Consultation Evidence: Please provide any correspondence, meeting notes, consultation responses, or internal briefings which specifically reference Travelling Showpeople in the context of:

• The Housing Need and Demand Assessment (HNDA) framework; The preparation or revision of Local Development Plans (LDPs); National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4);
• The Ministerial Oversight Group on Gypsy and Traveller Accommodation;
• Any equalities impact assessments, roundtables, or ministerial briefings addressing Gypsy/Traveller accommodation.

2. Definition and Policy Guidance: Please provide any documents—published or internal—which outline how Travelling Showpeople are to be distinguished from or included within the broader category of “Gypsy and Traveller communities” for planning purposes, particularly in guidance issued to local authorities.

3. Accommodation and Site Provision Data: If available, please provide any site assessment, spatial analysis, or data collection activities that have been undertaken or commissioned by the Scottish Government or its agencies regarding Travelling Showpeople’s accommodation needs, land use patterns, or planning permissions.

If any of the requested information is exempt or otherwise unavailable, I would appreciate a summary of the withheld material and guidance on how it may be accessed.

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.

​​​​​​​Response to your request

​​​​​​​I enclose a copy of the information you requested within an Annex to this response and as separate attachments (which are detailed in the Annex).

​​​​​​​At the top of the Annex, I have included a link to our previous response, which is now available on the Scottish Government website, and which includes information that falls within the scope of your current request.

​​​​​​​I have grouped documents by question number but some documents will be relevant to more than one question. Our searches have not identified any documents relating to question 3 of your request.

However, some documents provided in respect of questions 1 and 2 contain information on accommodation and site provision.

​​​​​​​While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance some information has been withheld as explained in the Response Annex.

In order to obtain any site assessment, spatial analysis or data collection undertaken or commissioned by Scottish Government Agencies, you would need to contact the relevant agencies directly as the Scottish Government does not hold this information.​​​​​​​

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.

EIR 202500478336 - Information Released - Annex

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PDF

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155.4 kB

EIR 202500478336 - Information Released - Attachments 1 - 28

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6.9 MB