Information and copy notice of any Statutory Plant Health Notice in an area of Brodick, Isle of Arran: EIR release

Information requested

We would like to request the information and copy notice of any SPHN [Statutory Plant Health Notice] in an area of Brodick, Isle of Arran […] and would very much appreciate help and guidance as to what, if any notices or requirements may need to be met within this specific area. (https://osmaps.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/osmaps/route/15997278/area-in-question)

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.

Response

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 11(2) of the EIRs (personal data relating to a third party) applies to some of the information you have requested. This information has been redacted in the attached documents.

According to our records, there has been one Statutory Plant Health Notice (SPHN) issued that covers the area in question. Please find attached a copy of the notice.

In order to comply with a SPHN, all of the larch trees within the SPHN mapped area need to be felled by the compliance deadline. The SPHN area is determined from the point/area where larch trees are confirmed to have been infected with the disease of Phytophthora ramorum, from which a buffer zone of 250 metres is drawn. Any larch that fall within this buffer zone from the confirmed infection point must be felled in order to comply with the SPHN.

Further detail of the measures to be taken in order to remove the larch from an SPHN area can be found in the attached document (“Complying with an SPHN”). This also includes the biosecurity measures that must be followed during operations on any SPHN site.

At time of writing we are not aware of any other notices or requirements covering the area in question.

ANNEX A
REASONS FOR NOT PROVIDING INFORMATION
Personal data relating to third party
An exception under regulation 11(2) of the EIRs (personal information) applies to some 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.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.

Complying with an SPHN

File type

5 page PDF

File size

174.5 kB

SPHN STH21_0696-0704_0891-0893_0897_1323_ Glenrickard_Redacted

File type

9 page PDF

File size

3.6 MB