Ministerial briefings and advice regarding Flamingo Land planning application: EIR Review

Information requested

Original request 202500467121

Ministerial briefings and advice provided prior to the announcement not to recall the Flamingo Land planning application.

Response

I have now completed my review of our response to your request under the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (EIRs) for ministerial briefings and advice provided prior to the announcement not to recall the Flamingo Land planning application.

I have concluded that the original decision should be confirmed, with modifications.

I have reconsidered the application of the exception under regulation 10(4)(e) (internal communications) of the EIRs and have concluded that it was incorrectly applied in a blanket fashion. I have therefore considered what information within the documents which were identified could be released and what should continue to be withheld.

I now enclose:

• a note of a meeting between planning officials and the Minister for Public Finance
• a summary briefing provided to the Minister for Public Finance; and
• a more detailed briefing on the proposed development at Lomond Banks

Some of the information you have requested continues to be withheld under regulation 10(4)(e) (internal communications) of the EIRs. This exception applies because the information is internal communications between Scottish Government officials and Scottish Ministers.

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. We recognise that there is some public interest in release as part of an open, transparent and accountable government, and to inform public debate. However, this information relates to a live planning appeal before Scottish Ministers and there is a greater public interest in high quality decision-making, and in the properly considered implementation and development of decisions. This means that Ministers and officials need to be able to consider all available options and to debate those rigorously, to fully understand their possible implications. Their candour in doing so will be affected by their assessment of whether the preliminary discussions will be disclosed in the near future, when it may undermine or constrain the Government’s view on that issue while it is still under discussion and development.

Also as this is a live planning case which is still under consideration, releasing information which is under active consideration is not disclosed when it might misinform the public or give a misleading impression of the Government’s view or position on the matter to which the information relates.

An exception under regulation 11(2) of the EIRs (personal information) also applies to some of the information requested because it is personal data of a third party and disclosing it would contravene the data protection principles in Article 5(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation and in section 34(1) of the Data Protection Act 2018. This exception is not subject to the ‘public interest test’, so we are not required to consider if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exception.

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 202500478509 - Information released - Annex

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