Screening Opinion for Meikle Dripps Farm Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) by Energy Consents Unit (ECU): EIR release

Information requested

As this is an application for the development of a 150 Mw Battery Energy Storage System (BESS), I would expect that any Open Data concerning the Screening request and subsequent documents supplied by the applicant to be available, therefore:

1. Could you please let me know why the referred ECU Proposal Number 00005045 - Meikle Dripps Farm BESS is no longer accessible on the ECU database?
2. Given that the Scottish Government Open Data Strategy allows access to the Open Data supplied to the ECU by the applicant, which, you can see from my search results (see attachment), cannot be accessed, can you please supply copies of all documents provided by the applicant, relating to this planning request, to myself.

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.

​​​​​​​I will respond to each of your points in turn:

1. ​​​​​​​A screening opinion was issued for Meikle Dripps Farm BESS by the Energy Consents Unit (ECU) on 27 September 2024. In April 2025 the developer advised that they were in a position to progress the application. To allow the application documents to be uploaded the ECU portal, the portal status was amended to ‘Draft’. When the portal is in draft status it is not available for public viewing. The developer has this week advised that they are not in a position to progress the application at this time, therefore the portal status has now been returned to ‘Pre Application Complete’ and is available again for public viewing. The developer will contact the ECU when they are in a position to progress the application.

2. ​​​​​​​With regards to the documents submitted that relate to the Screening Opinion, an exception under regulation 6(1)b of the EIRs (publicly available information) applies as some of the information is now available on the ECU portal once again, as discussed in point one. 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 exception. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exception, as the information is already publicly available.

​​​​​​​With regards to the documents submitted that relates to the final development application, an exception under regulation 10(5)(f) of the EIRs (Third party interests) applies to some of the information you have requested. This is because disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice substantially the interests of the person who supplied the information. 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 exception. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exception as information release could substantially prejudice the interests of the person who provided the information.

​​​​​​​Please be assured that when the final development application has been submitted by the applicant, the consultation stage will commence, and all relevant application documentation will be published on our portal for public viewing.​​​​​​​

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