Meetings between Scottish Government and communities regarding renewable or non-renewable energy projects: EIR release

Information requested

• In the last year how many times has a member of the Scottish Government met with a representative of a community in Scotland for discussion of renewable or non-renewable energy projects?
• In the last year how many times has a member of the Scottish Government met with a representative of a community in Scotland for discussion of planning applications?

On 2 February, you provided the following clarification:

• If possible, please could you define ‘a Member of the Scottish Government’ to include Ministers and Cabinet Secretaries.
• In terms of ‘a representative of a community’ please could this include anybody representing an area which they live or work.
• In terms of ‘planning applications’ could you define this to include any applications for planning permission which does not relate to renewable or non-renewable structures

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.

Please note, point 2 of your request will be addressed separately in a subsequent EIR response, as responsibility for that information lies with another directorate (EIR 202600504796)

The answer to Point 1 of your question is as follows:

We have identified 24 meetings between members of the Scottish Government — including Ministers and Cabinet Secretaries — and representatives of Scottish communities relating to discussions on renewable or non‑renewable energy projects.

Details are as follows:

• 20 meetings (17 in person and 3 online using MS Teams) between the Sectoral Marine Planning team and members of the public, local authorities and community councils. A published analysis of this consultation is available online. It provides an overview of the locations visited, attendance figures for each event, and a high‑level summary of the points discussed. The report is titled Draft Updated Sectoral Marine Plan for Offshore Wind Energy (2025) Consultation ADraft Updated Sectoral Marine Plan for Offshore Wind Energy (2025): Consultation Analysis Report
• 1 meeting between the Deputy First Minister and the Scottish Seabird Centre in relation to renewable projects.
• 3 meetings between Planning, Architecture and Regeneration Directorate (PARD) and the Energy Projects Partnership Manager for the East Lammermuir Energy Projects Partnership. These meetings focused on best practice for sharing information on existing and proposed energy and infrastructure developments in the local area.

PARD officials also meet regularly with Planning Aid Scotland to discuss community engagement in Scotland’s planning and consenting systems. This work has included developing an information sheet to support communities in navigating consenting processes for renewable energy developments. The National Planning Hub has additionally provided grant funding to Planning Aid Scotland for training on renewable energy, community engagement and place‑based planning. This training is free and open to participants across Scotland.

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.