Information regarding the removal of an Osprey nest: EIR release
Information request and response under the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004.
Information requested
You will see from the attached that Nature Scot, to whom I addressed my original FoI request, have stated that the information on which the Scottish Government made the decision not to offer further protection to nests of some migratory birds, notably Osprey, is no longer available to them. I am therefore redirecting this part of my request to you for action. Is the information which supported your decision available? I regard this as an essential part of the public record and if it isn't available I would want a response as to why not. Although I am of greatest concern that the decisions of Nature Scot were based upon evidence that is clearly false. There has never, in my experience, been disruption to traffic, the birds have never been disturbed by anyone viewing the web site, which is clearly visible from the road, and finally, and most critically, that the nest had failed. However, these are issues which I have taken up with Nature Scot separately.
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.
In response to your request, it is noted that a consultation exercise was undertaken in 2009 to identify bird species requiring additional protection through inclusion on Schedules A1 and 1A of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (WCA).
Annex A is provided and comprises a report summarising the consultation process, together with a copy of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds’ (RSPB) consultation response. This response was a material consideration in the decision not to include the Osprey on either Schedule A1 or Schedule 1A of the Act.
Annex B is also provided and contains correspondence between the Scottish Government and NatureScot (known at the time as Scottish Natural Heritage), along with a submission to the Minister for Environment and Climate Change relating to proposed variations to the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.
Please note, some information has been withheld from Annex B under Regulation 11(2) (Personal Data) as it contains personal information and disclosing it would contravene the data protection principles in Article 5(1) of the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) and in Section 34(1) of the Data Protection Act 2018. This exception is not subject to the ‘public interest test’.
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