Glendye Wind Farm overhead line planning consent: EIR release

Information requested

1. All information submitted by SSEN Transmission either directly to the ECU or indirectly via Aberdeenshire Council concerning:

• partial undergrounding of the proposed connection;
• undergrounding of the western section of the route;
• alternatives to the proposed overhead line in the western section.

2. Any technical assessments, engineering studies, routeing studies, feasibility assessments, environmental assessments, cost assessments or appraisal documents relating to underground cable options.

3. Any plans, maps, drawings or route plans showing the undergrounding options that were considered.

4. Any documents identifying:

• the location and extent of the “western section” considered for undergrounding;
• the length of any underground cable section assessed;
• alternative underground cable alignments considered;
• alternative lengths or configurations of partial undergrounding considered.

5. Any correspondence, briefing notes, meeting notes, consultation responses or internal memoranda discussing:

• the feasibility of partial undergrounding;
• reasons for rejecting underground cable options;
• reasons for concluding that undergrounding would result in greater impacts on peat, soils, hydrology or ecology.

6. Any advice, analysis or briefing prepared for Scottish Ministers or the Energy Consents Unit concerning the assessment of undergrounding or partial undergrounding alternatives.

If any of the requested information is already publicly available, please identify the relevant documents and where they may be accessed.

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 your points below:

Points 1,2, and 4 - The information you have requested is available from the Energy Consents Portal at Scottish Government - Energy Consents Unit - Application Details. This resource allows for full transparency of each application made by publishing all documents relating to an application.

We have identified the documents that are relevant to the queries raised and have listed their titles below:

• Volume 1: Chapter 1: Introduction And Background
• Volume 1: Chapter 2: The Routeing Process And Alternatives
• Non-Technical Summary
• Volume 1: Chapter 4: Scope And Consultation
• Pre-Application Consultation (Pac) Report – Part 1
• Pre-Application Consultation (Pac) Report – Part 3
• Aberdeenshire Council Consultation Response

Unfortunately, we cannot provide a direct hyperlink to each document due to the nature of the website’s coding, however, they can be accessed through the ‘Application Documents’ and ‘Consultation Responses’ sections of the portal.

In relation to Point 2 of your request, further information on electricity transmission technologies, including underground cable options, is available in the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) report A comparison of electricity transmission technologies: Costs and characteristics, which is publicly accessible online.

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. 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.

Point 3 and 6 - While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.

The Scottish Government does not hold information relating to any plans, maps, drawings or route plans showing undergrounding options that were considered, nor any advice, analysis or briefing prepared for Scottish Ministers or the Energy Consents Unit in relation to the assessment of full or partial undergrounding alternatives. Therefore, there is no information available for release.

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. 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 this information, but clearly, we cannot provide information which we do not hold.

Point 5 - Please find attached Annex A which contains some of the information that we are able to provide in response to your request.

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 the following exceptions apply:

• regulation 10(5)g of the EIRs (protection of the environment)
• regulation 11(2) of the EIRs (personal information)

An exception under regulation 10(5)g applies to some of the information. This allows a Scottish public authority to withhold environmental information where its disclosure would, or would be likely to, cause substantial prejudice to the protection of the environment.

This exception is subject to the public interest test. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered whether the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exception.

We recognise that there is some public interest in disclosure, as it would provide transparency and increase public participation in decision making. However, this is outweighed by the public interest in protecting the environment. Disclosure of the information would significantly risk harm coming to species protected under legislation, and we have therefore concluded that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exception.

An exception under regulation 11(2) applies to some of the information requested because it is personal data of a third party, and disclosure would contravene the data protection principles in Article 5(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation and section 34(1) of the Data Protection Act 2018.

This exception is not subject to the public interest test, and therefore we are not required to consider whether the public interest in disclosure outweighs the public interest in applying the exception.

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 202600520300 - Information Released - Annex A

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5.7 MB