Cabinet Secretary for Climate Action and Energy meeting held regarding opposition to wind farms: EIR release

Information requested

How many meetings has Gillian Martin held with campaigners/campaign groups against pylons, and campaigners/campaign groups against wind farms, in the last two years?

Could you supply a list of requests made to Ms Martin and or/her office for meetings by these campaign groups in the same time frame?

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.

How many meetings has Gillian Martin held with campaigners/campaign groups against pylons, and campaigners/campaign groups against wind farms, in the last two years?

Gillian Martin, Cabinet Secretary for Climate Action and Energy, has not held any meetings with campaigners or campaign groups against pylons or wind farms in the last two years.

Could you supply a list of requests made to Ms Martin and or/her office for meetings by these campaign groups in the same time frame?

Please find below a list of meeting requests we have been able to identify that were made to Ms Martin by campaigners and campaign groups in the last two years:

Requester	Date of request
Scotland Against Spin	29 September 2025
Dunbeath Action Group, On behalf of Highland and Caithness Campaigners	28 July 2025
Action Against Pylons: Scottish Borders Alliance (AAP:SBA)	14 July 2025
Dunbeath and Berriedale Action Group, On behalf of Highland and Caithness Campaigners	10 July 2025
Fergus Ewing MSP on behalf of Strathdearn Community Council	9 July 2025
Community Councils of Kirkhill & Bunchrew, Kiltarlity, Sleat, Muir of Ord, Strathnairn, Kilmorack and Strathglass	28 June 2025
Kirkhill & Bunchrew Community Council	21 June 2025
Maree Todd MSP on behalf of representatives of the local community council, Caithness, Sutherland & Ross	28 May 2025
Dunbeath Action Group, On behalf of Highland and Caithness Campaigners	1 May 2025
Better Cable Route (Strathpeffer & Contin)	17 March 2025
Maree Todd MSP on behalf of No Rings of Steel campaign group	7 March 2025
Dunbeath and Berriedale Community Say NO to PYLONS Action Group	7 March 2025
[Redacted - Regulation 11(2)] - Resident of Echt, on behalf of Deeside Against Pylons	14 February 2025
[Redacted - Regulation 11(2)] - Local resident in Aberdeenshire	28 October 2024
[Redacted - Regulation 11(2)] - Representatives of two groups of residents of Deeside	14 October 2024
[Redacted - Regulation 11(2)] - Local resident in Aberdeenshire	26 September 2024
[Redacted - Regulation 11(2)] - Local resident in Aberdeenshire	26 September 2024
Angus Pylon Group	13 September 2024
[Redacted - Regulation 11(2)] - Local resident in Aberdeenshire	16 September 2024
[Redacted - Regulation 11(2)] - Local resident in Aberdeenshire	16 September 2024
[Redacted - Regulation 11(2)] - Local resident in Aberdeenshire	16 September 2024
[Redacted - Regulation 11(2)] - Local resident in Aberdeenshire	16 September 2024
[Redacted - Regulation 11(2)] - Local resident in Aberdeenshire	15 September 2024
[Redacted - Regulation 11(2)] - Local resident in Aberdeenshire	15 September 2024
[Redacted - Regulation 11(2)] - Local resident in Aberdeenshire	15 September 2024
[Redacted - Regulation 11(2)] - Local resident in Aberdeenshire	15 September 2024
[Redacted - Regulation 11(2)] - Local resident in Aberdeenshire	14 September 2024
Drumoak Against Pylons	14 September 2024
Dunbeath/Berriedale Community say NO to PYLONS action group	31 January 2024
Dunbeath/Berriedale Community say NO to Pylons Action group	14 December 2023
[Redacted - Regulation 11(2)] - On behalf of a group of concerned constituents from Dunbeath, Helmsdale, Navidale, Marrell, Portgower and Loth on the Eastern Seaboard of the Highlands	13 October 2023

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.

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.