Transport Scotland - Dundee Airport communications: EIR release

Information requested

• Any and all communications (internal and external) relating to Dundee Airport's mentioned Masterplan, from January 1st 2024 onwards.
• Any and all communications (internal and external) relating to Dundee Airport's solar PV plans — including but not limited to location, size, and wattage — from January 1st 2024 onwards.
• Any and all communications (internal and external) relating to plans to demolish the mentioned Scottish Water facility, and plans to re-develop that land, from January 1st 2024 onwards.

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.

Regulation 6(1)(b) – information already accessible.

Some of the information you have requested is available from your recent EIR request (Case number 202500495306) in relation to Dundee Airport. 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.

I provide a link to the Highlands and Islands Limited (HIAL) 2024-25 annual report which contains some information in relation to your EIR request. The link can be accessed via - https://www.hial.co.uk/downloads/file/1096/hial-annual-report-and-accounts-2024-2025

Taking each of your requests in turn:

Any and all communications (internal and external) relating to Dundee Airport's mentioned Masterplan, from January 1st 2024 onwards.

I enclose a copy of some of the information that you have requested.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide the information you have requested as an exception under Regulation 11(2) of the EIRs (Third party personal data) applies to the information you have requested.

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.

Any and all communications (internal and external) relating to Dundee Airport's solar PV plans — including but not limited to location, size, and wattage — from January 1st 2024 onwards.

I enclose a copy of some of the information that you have requested.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide the information you have requested as an exception under Regulation 11(2) of the EIRs (Third party personal data) and an exception under regulation 10(5)(e) of the EIRs (substantial prejudice to confidentiality of commercial information) applies to the information you have requested.

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 under regulation 10(5)(e) of the EIRs (substantial prejudice to confidentiality of commercial information) applies to some of the information you have requested. This exception applies because disclosure of this particular information would, or would be likely to, prejudice substantially the confidentiality of commercial information provided by HIAL and thus cause substantial harm to their commercial interests. For HIAL, disclosing information in relation to potential business that they are trying to attract would give their competitors an advantage when competing for that business. In both cases, this would significantly harm their commercial interests.

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 a public interest in disclosing information as part of open and transparent government. However, there is a greater public interest in protecting the commercial interests of these companies to ensure their future success.

Any and all communications (internal and external) relating to plans to demolish the mentioned Scottish Water facility, and plans to re-develop that land, from January 1st 2024 onwards.

I enclose a copy of some of the information that you have requested.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide the information you have requested as an exemption under Regulation 11(2) of the EIRs (Third party personal data) and an exemption under regulation 10(5)(e) of the EIRs (substantial prejudice to confidentiality of commercial information) applies to the information you have requested.

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 under regulation 10(5)(e) of the EIRs (substantial prejudice to confidentiality of commercial information) applies to some of the information you have requested. This exception applies because disclosure of this particular information would, or would be likely to, prejudice substantially the confidentiality of commercial information provided by HIAL and thus cause substantial harm to their commercial interests. For HIAL, disclosing information in relation to potential business that they are trying to attract would give their competitors an advantage when competing for that business. In both cases, this would significantly harm their commercial interests.

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 a public interest in disclosing information as part of open and transparent government. However, there is a greater public interest in protecting the commercial interests of these companies to ensure their future success.

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 202500499115 - Information released - Annex

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