Kennoxhead Windfarm condition 5 documents: EIR release

Information requested

Copies of the following documents pertaining to Condition 5 of the Kennoxhead Windfarm:

• The radar mitigation scheme submitted by the Company to the Scottish Ministers for approval (full text of scheme)
• The Scottish Ministers’ written approval of the submitted scheme (or any variation thereof)
• Any correspondence between any or all (as appropriate) of the Company, the Scottish Ministers and NATS (En Route) plc pertaining to the submission, approval and implementation of the approved radar mitigation scheme.

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.

I shall address each of your points in turn:

Point 1 and 3 - Some of the information you have requested is enclosed within Annex A.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide some of the information you have requested because:

• An exception under regulation 6(1)b of the EIRs (publicly available information) applies as some of the information is already available in the ECU portal.
• An exception under regulation 10(5)(e) of the EIRs (commercially sensitive) applies to some of the information
• An exception under regulation 11(2) of the EIRs (personal information) applies to some of the information.

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. For information which is publicly available in relation to this case please visit our website Scottish Government - Energy Consents Unit - Application Details where you will find additional documents relating to this case, including the discharge of the variation.

An exception 6(1)(b) of the EIRs (information already available) 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, as the information is already publicly available.

An exception under regulation 10(5)(e) of the EIRs (confidentiality of commercial or industrial information) applies to some of the information requested because disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice substantially the confidentiality of commercial or industrial information where such confidentiality is provided for by law to protect a legitimate economic interest. 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.

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.

Point 2 – The document requested — the Scottish Ministers’ written approval of the submitted scheme (including any variations) — has already been published on the Energy Consents Unit (ECU) portal and is publicly accessible. It can be found under the section titled ‘ECU Correspondence – External 2’.

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. For information which is publicly available in relation to this case please visit our website Scottish Government - Energy Consents Unit - Application Details where you will find additional documents relating to this case, including the discharge of the variation.

An exception 6(1)(b) of the EIRs (information already available) 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, as the information is already publicly available.

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 202600509439 - Information released - Annex A

File type

PDF

File size

2.3 MB