Scottish Government’s approach to the development of offshore wind farms in nature conservation marine protected areas: EIR release
Information request and response under the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004.
Information requested
“What is the Scottish Government’s approach to the development of offshore wind farms in nature conservation marine protected areas?
Can you outline the reasons why a sectoral marine plan was not set out for INTOG projects, but was for ScotWind projects?
What role does the Scottish Government play in any objections received from a statutory consultee such as the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC), under schedule 9 of the Electricity Act 1989, to a section 36 offshore wind application?
Please provide minutes of any meetings, either online or in person, which took place between 01/09/2025 and 31/01/2026 and involved representatives from Cenos floating offshore wind farm and the Marine Directorate Licensing Operations Team (MD-LOT).
Please also provide minutes of any meetings, either online or in person, over the same date range, between representatives from Cenos and MD-LOT that were attended at any point by the JNCC and/or NatureScot.
Please provide the current status of the requirement for INTOG projects to have an oil and gas platform offtake agreement.
What are the supply chain requirements for ScotWind and INTOG projects, and what was the process for agreeing why these requirements are different?”
Response
Response to your request
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.
Request for information
Question 1
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.
As part of the process to update our Sectoral Marine Plan for Offshore Wind Energy we have undertaken a plan-level Nature Conservation Marine Protected Area assessment. This is publicly available, and provides an assessment of the potential impacts associated with ScotWind and INTOG projects on NCMPAs. The full publication can be found here.
Question 2
The outcomes of the INTOG leasing round have been subject to a series of plan-level impact assessments and were integrated into our draft updated SMP (Sector Marine Plan) which was consulted on during Summer 2025. We are now working to finalise the Updated SMP-OWE (Sector Marine Plan – Offshore Wind Energy) for adoption in Summer 2026.
Question 3
In reaching a determination on applications submitted for Section 36 consent, the Scottish Ministers must have regard to all representations made in respect of the application, whilst also meeting the requirements of Schedule 9 of the Electricity Act 1989.
Questions 4 & 5
I have included copies of the information you have requested in the attached Annex (B).
On reviewing materials within the scope of your request, exceptions have been applied in line with the EIRs. The exceptions applied can be found in the attached Annex (A).
Question 6 and 7
While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not hold the specific information you have requested as the design of the Scotwind and INTOG leasing rounds, including the supply chain elements of the rounds and how and why they differ, is a matter for Crown Estate Scotland (CES). Therefore, with respect to your request this is a formal notice under Regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs confirming that the Scottish Government does not hold this information.
You may, however, wish to contact CES directly as they may be able to provide the information you are seeking. Information and guidance on how to submit a Freedom of Information request to CES can be found here.
This exception is subject to the ‘public interest test’. It is important to note that although we do not hold the information and have applied Regulation 10(4)(a) – information not held, it is a requirement that we have to apply the public interest test.
Wider guidance on the Environmental Information regime can be found in the Key Concepts section under ‘Information Not Held’ and ‘The Public Interest Test’ in the attached Scottish Information Commissioner Briefings and Guidance document. Further guidance on the public interest test can also be found on page 8 of the Scottish Information Commissioner guidance.
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.
Contact
Please quote the FOI reference
Central Correspondence Unit
Email: contactus@gov.scot
Phone: 0300 244 4000
The Scottish Government
St Andrew's House
Regent Road
Edinburgh
EH1 3DG