FOI/202100231437 · FOI/EIR · partially withheld
Objections for wind turbine developments under section 36 Electricity Act 1989: EIR release
Information requested
You asked how many objections were or have been received by the Scottish Government to applications for wind turbine developments under section 36 of the Electricity Act 1989 in a) 2013 b) 2014 c) 2015 d) 2016 e) 2017 f) 2018 g) 2019 and h) 2020.
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. If any of the information you have requested is available from www.energyconsents.scot. 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. All of our determinations and all information pertaining to our determinations is available on our ECU portal, link above, where you can find more information regarding the nature of the objections/support and where you may also find reference to the consultation and objections from consultees in addition to public representations. You may find the attached spreadsheet with the names of each development and determination outcome from 2013 until 2020. 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.
Detected exemption language
Information requested You asked how many objections were or have been received by the Scottish Government to applications for wind turbine developments under section 36 of the Electricity Act 1989 in a) 2013 b) 2014 c) 2015 d) 2016 e) 2017 f) 2018 g) 2019 and h) 2020. 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.