Meetings between Scottish Government and Communities regarding planning applications: EIR release

Information requested

1. 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?

2. 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?

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 1 of your request has been addressed in a separate letter which was issued on 19 February 2026 (EIR 202600502922).

Regarding point 2 of your question, while our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have 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), the Scottish Government is not required to provide information which it does not have. Having conducted a trawl, we have not identified any meetings between members of the Scottish Government, including Scottish Ministers and Cabinet Secretaries, and community representatives on individual planning applications in the last year. It is not generally appropriate for a member of the Scottish Government, including Scottish Ministers, to meet with a representative of a community to discuss any live or forthcoming application.

This is because, to ensure the fairness and transparency of the planning system, members of the Scottish Government must do nothing which might be seen as prejudicial to that process, particularly in advance of a decision being taken.

However, there will be occasions where Planning & Environmental Appeals Division (DPEA) Reporters appointed by Scottish Ministers under the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act may meet members of the public, including community representatives, when considering cases. This may occur during accompanied site inspections or during oral sessions where members of the public are invited to give evidence. These interactions form part of the statutory process and are carried out in line with the relevant procedural guidance. However, no log or record is kept that would allow us to quantify how many of these interactions involved a community representative or if the invited party attended, as defined in your request. The Scottish Government therefore does not hold the information in a form that would allow the question to be answered.

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 regarding meetings between the Scottish Government and representatives of communities to discuss planning applications, clearly we cannot provide information which we do not hold.

You may also wish to note, although not discussing individual planning applications, the Scottish Government routinely engages with community organisations on the overall operation of the planning system. For example, in the last year, officials from the Planning, Architecture and Regeneration Division (PARD) have met with Planning Democracy to discuss a review of the effectiveness of Local Place Plans, Action to Protect Rural Scotland on planning for data centres, and have undertaken frequent engagement with Planning Aid Scotland to discuss community engagement in Scotland’s planning and consenting systems.

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.