FOI/19/00540 · FOI/EIR · partially withheld
Planning applications for major developments for years 2014-2018: EIR release
Information requested
1. Within each region how many planning applications for Major Developments were submitted for years 2014 - 2018?
2. Within each region how many planning applications for Major Developments went to the reporter 2014 - 2018?
3. Within each region how many Major Developments did the reporter overturn the council’s decision between 2014-2018?
4. If a planning decision is appealed who pays for the appeal?
5. How is the reporter selected are they party affiliated or are they a civil servant?
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 have numbered the sections of your request to make it easier to link the responses to the questions asked.
(Please see attached.)
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
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.