Scottish Forestry - Stobo Hope visit information: EIR release

Information requested

1. Did Scottish Forestry's Director of Operational Delivery visit Stobo Hope on 25th June 2024? What other days (if any) did this member of staff visit Stobo Hope between 15 March 2024 and 21 August 2024?

2. Response 202400421105 claims that the purpose of the visit by the South of Scotland Conservator on 25 June 2024 'had no purpose other than a brief site drop in when
passing'. Please could Scottish Forestry clarify if this was still the case, if there was another, real purpose for the visit, and provide this information.

3. As it is known that the Director of Operational Delivery visited Stobo Hope at least once between 15 March 2024 and 21 August 2024, but Scottish Forestry omitted this
information in an earlier EIR response (reference 202400421105). Please could Scottish Forestry provide the real purpose of this visit (or these visits) between 15 March 2024 and 21 August 2024 by the Director of Operational Delivery.

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.

1. Did Scottish Forestry's Director of Operational Delivery visit Stobo Hope on 25th June 2024? What other days (if any) did this member of staff visit Stobo Hope between 15 March 2024 and 21 August 2024?

Brendan Callaghan, Director of Operational Delivery did not attend this visit, he did attend a visit to the site with the Conservator for South Scotland on 21 August 2024.

2. Response 202400421105 claims that the purpose of the visit by the South of Scotland Conservator on 25 June 2024 'had no purpose other than a brief site drop in when passing'. Please could Scottish Forestry clarify if this was still the case, if there was another, real purpose for the visit, and provide this information.

Under regulation 6(1)(b) of the EIRs, we do not have to give you information which is already publicly available and easily accessible to you in another form or format. If, however, you do not have internet access to obtain this information from the website(s) listed, then please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy.

https://www.gov.scot/publications/foi-202400421105/

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have some of the information you have requested. Therefore, we are refusing your request under the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs.

Under the terms of the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs (information not held), Scottish Forestry is not required to provide information which it does not have. Scottish Forestry does not have some of the information you have requested as the visit of 25 June 2024 by the South of Scotland Conservator to the Stobo Hope was a brief site drop in when passing.

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 information about the visit by the then South of Scotland Conservator to the Stobo Hope site on 25 June 2024, as the visit had no purpose other than as a brief site drop in when passing, we cannot provide information which we do not hold.

3. As it is known that the Director of Operational Delivery visited Stobo Hope at least once between 15 March 2024 and 21 August 2024, but Scottish Forestry omitted this information in an earlier EIR response (reference 202400421105). Please could Scottish Forestry provide the real purpose of this visit (or these visits) between 15 March 2024 and 21 August 2024 by the Director of Operational Delivery.

Further to the earlier EIR 202400421105 response which was issued on 29 July 2025, Scottish Forestry can confirm Brendan Callaghan, Director of Operational Delivery visited the Stobo Hope site once in a work capacity within the dates from 15 March to 21 August 2024 on the evening of 21 August 2024. This was a joint visit with Doug Howieson, the then Conservator for South Scotland, to look at the site in relation to the issues that had been raised by the revised Judicial Review Petition on Stobo Hope. This included the extensive use of chemical spraying.

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.