Correspondence regarding Mey Battery Energy Storage System application: EIR release

Information requested

Please provide all information held by the Energy Consents Unit in relation to the resubmission of documents by the Applicant (Mey Energy Storage Ltd / Young Planning & Energy Consenting Ltd) for the Mey Battery Energy Storage System, application reference ECU00004838 / 24/01212/S36, after Highland Council issued its objection on 30 April 2025.

Specifically, I request:

1. Copies of all correspondence (emails, letters, meeting notes, Teams/phone call records, file notes, or otherwise) between ECU officials and the Applicant or their agents relating to the possibility of submitting further documents following Highland Council’s objection.

2. Internal ECU correspondence, notes, or decision records discussing whether the resubmission of these documents should be accepted, including any consideration of whether this altered the status of Highland Council’s objection and the resulting mandatory Public Local Inquiry process.

3. Any communications between ECU and Highland Council concerning the treatment of these further submissions and the prospect of the Council revisiting its objection.

4. Any guidance, instructions, or policy documents ECU relied on when allowing the Applicant to provide additional material for reconsideration by Highland Council after the statutory objection had already been lodged.

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 shall address each of your points in turn:

Point 1 & 3 - Some of the information you have requested is enclosed within Annex A.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide some of the information you have requested because:

• An exception under regulation 11(2) of the EIRs (personal information) applies to some of the information.
• An exception under regulation 6(1)b of the EIRs (publicly available information) applies as some of the information is already available Here in the ECU portal. Some of the information was previously provided in response to an earlier Environmental Information Regulations (EIR) request submitted by you. That response was issued on 04 September 2025 under reference 202500479441.

An exception under regulation 11(2) of the EIRs (personal information) 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.

An exception 6(1)(b) of the EIRs (information already available) 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.

Point 2 – While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.

The Scottish Government does not hold any internal ECU deliberations on document resubmission and its impact on Highland Council’s objection and Public Inquiry requirement. Therefore, there is no information
available for release.

Under the terms of the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs (information not held), the Scottish Government is not required to provide information which it does not have.

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. While we recognise that there may be some public interest in this information, but clearly, we cannot provide information which we do not hold.

Point 4 - Under Schedule 8, Part 2(2) Electricity Act 1989, where a relevant planning authority objects to a section 36 or 37 application within the prescribed time period and the objection is not withdrawn, Scottish Ministers are required to cause a public inquiry to be held before determining the application. This provision allows planning authorities to reconsider and, if appropriate, withdraw their objection following the submission of further information. In this case, Highland Council submitted a valid objection within time and agreed to allow the applicant to submit information to address the objection.

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 202500482132 - Information Released - Annex A

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