Agricultural holdings data for Papa Westray: EIR release

Information requested

I am seeking non-personal, anonymised agricultural holdings data for Papa Westray, Orkney, specifically:

1. Number of agricultural holdings
Please provide the total number of registered agricultural holdings on Papa Westray that have:

• a CPH (County Parish Holding) number, and/or
• are registered as an agricultural business for the purposes of
  • IACS (Integrated Administration and Control System)
  • SAF (Single Application Form)

Please provide data for the most recent year available.

2. Agricultural land area
For the same holdings, please provide:

• Total agricultural area (hectares), broken down by:
  • Permanent grass
  • Temporary grass
  • Rough grazing
  • Arable
  • Other land categories used in the IACS/SAF return

Anonymised aggregated figures only — not farm-level data.

3. Optional — livestock totals (aggregated)
If held and releasable under FOISA, please provide total livestock numbers for Papa Westray (latest year):

• Cattle
• Sheep
• Pigs
• Other livestock categories

Again, aggregate totals only.

Format

Please supply all information in digital format, preferably CSV, Excel, or PDF.

Personal data

For clarity,

I am not requesting any personal data or any information that would identify individual farmers, crofters, landowners, or businesses.

All requested data may be provided in fully anonymised, aggregated form.

This information will support community energy and resilience planning in the Papa Westray island, including assessing agricultural implications for local retrofit and carbon-reduction projects. It will not be used for commercial marketing.

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. Number of agricultural holdings

For the most recent year available (2025):

• There are 38 agricultural holdings on Papa Westray with a County Parish Holding (CPH) number.
• Of these, 15 holdings are registered as agricultural businesses.
• 11 agricultural businesses submitted a Single Application Form (SAF) in 2025 for the purposes of IACS/SAF.

2. Agricultural land area (aggregated)

The total aggregated agricultural land area declared for Papa Westray in 2025 is set out below. All figures are provided in hectares and represent anonymised, aggregated data only. See attached spreadsheet for more information.

• Permanent grass: 581.71 ha
• Temporary grass: 0.55 ha
• Rough grazing: 193.57 ha
• Arable cropping: 0.24 ha
• Other declared land (not eligible for agricultural support): 7.20 ha

3. Livestock totals (aggregated)

The following aggregated livestock numbers were declared on SAF applications for Papa Westray in 2025:

Sheep

• Ewes and gimmers: 312
• Ewe hoggs: 39
• Other sheep: 191

Cattle

• Suckler cows: 154
• Other dairy and beef (over 24 months): 8
• Other dairy and beef (6–24 months): 207
• Other dairy and beef (under 6 months): 20

Other livestock

• Poultry: 14

Please note that livestock figures are based on declarations made within SAF applications and may not capture animals held on holdings that did not submit an application in the relevant year.

4. Format

This information is provided in aggregated form only and does not identify any individual farmer, crofter, landowner, or business.

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 202600502797 - Information released - Annex

File type

Excel document

File size

13.3 kB