FOI/19/02189 · FOI/EIR · already published
Energy Consents Unit cases WAY-350-1 and WAY-350-4 correspondence: EIR release
Information requested
You asked for copies of any correspondence between the Scottish Government/Ministers and Energy Consents Unit in respect of 2 cases, referenced WAY-350-1 and WAY-350-4.
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 enclose a copy of all of the information within the scope of your request in electronic format, other than the information set out below which is exempt. The information consists of a submission to the Minister from the Energy Consents Unit making a recommendation as to the determinations on the cases to which you refer, and the associated draft determination letter and grant of necessary wayleaves; and, a minute to the Minister recommending a response to a meeting request from the landowners while the applications were under consideration. The following document is not included in the information within the scope of the request – the hearing reports completed by Mr. Richard Hickman and Mr. Don Rankin. This is because these are already otherwise accessible at www.energyconsents.scot (search ‘The Sheiling’ for the case record) and are exempt under regulation 6 (1) of the EIRs.
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Detected exemption language
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.