EIR/202600515636 · FOI/EIR · not held
Scottish Forestry - Information regarding new forestry access track near Drumguish: EIR release
Information requested
Information as requested in your letter of 24 April 2026 on New Forestry Track and Associated Works and Timber Transportation Operations near to Drumguish.
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.
1. Details of the currently approved Long-Term Forest Plan(s) covering the Inshriach, Drumguish and Glen Tromie and Glen Feshie area, including the plan reference, date of approval, approving Conservancy, period covered, and a copy of the approved plan document.
Two currently approved Forest Plans cover the area identified in the information request.
Strathspey Land Management Plan (REF: 030/517/430), approved 29 June 2022; and Gaick, Lynaberack and Glen Tromie Long Term Forest Plan (REF: 19FGS45123), approved 08 December 2021.
Glen Feshie Estate Long Term Forest Plan (REF: 3879450), was approved 26 February 2016. Though this expired on 25 February 2026, we have included a copy of this plan for completeness.
All three plans were approved by the Highland and Islands Conservancy.
Long Term Forest Plans are subject to a ten year approval period.
2. Any Felling Licence(s) currently in force covering harvesting in that area, with reference numbers, date of issue, period, estimated volume to be felled, and copies of the licence documents.
The only felling permissions in force within the areas specified in this request are those granted under the approved Forest Plans referenced above, along with amendments to the Glen Feshie Estate Long Term Forest Plan (Ref: 3879450), approved on 27 February 2024, and the Strathspey Land Management Plan (Ref: 030/517/430), approved on 14 May 2024. These amendments were approved to address catastrophic wind damage.
3. Whether an EIA determination, screening opinion or consent under the Forestry (Environmental Impact Assessment) (Scotland) Regulations 2017 has been required, requested or issued in relation to any part of the operations (afforestation, deforestation, forest road / quarry works or timber transportation operations), and copies of any determination, screening opinion or consent documents.
Only the Strathspey Land Management Plan (Ref: 030/517/430) includes a request for a screening opinion under the Forestry (Environmental Impact Assessment) (Scotland) Regulations 2017. This relates to proposals for 470 hectares (ha) of afforestation, 12.8 ha of deforestation, 1.1 ha of forest roads, and 2 ha of forest quarries. The screening opinion request is contained within the approved Land Management Plan.
All of the information you have requested in relation to Scottish Forestry’s screening opinion for this project, is available on our Register of Environmental Impact Assessments (Ref: EIA-1079):
https://www.forestry.gov.scot/environmental-impact-assessment-eia-register
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. If, however, you do not have internet access to obtain this information from the website(s) listed, then please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy.
4. In particular, and by reference to Schedule 1 to the 2017 Regulations, Scottish Forestry's position on the following points in relation to the Drumguish access track and the associated harvesting operations:
whether any part of the project land sits within, or immediately adjacent to, a 'sensitive area' within the meaning of regulation 2(1) — including any Site of Special Scientific Interest, Special Area of Conservation, Special Protection Area, National Nature Reserve, National Scenic Area, scheduled monument or World Heritage Site — having particular regard to the proximity of the Invereshie and Inshriach NNR / SSSI / SAC / SPA designations and the River Spey SAC; the calculated area of the new forest road (formation length multiplied by formation width, plus associated borrow pits, turning heads, passing places and stacking areas) and whether that area exceeds the 1 hectare forest-road threshold; whether the five-year adjacency rule has been applied — i.e. whether any other forestry works (afforestation, deforestation, road or quarry works) carried out on adjacent land in the Inshriach, Drumguish or Glen Tromie area within the past five years have been aggregated with the current project for the purposes of threshold calculation; whether Scottish Forestry has considered the exercise of its power to require a screening opinion in 'exceptional circumstances' notwithstanding that the project may be below threshold, having regard to the sensitivity of the receiving environment, cumulative effects, and the scale of projected timber transport movements on the B970; a copy of any internal screening note or case file entry recording the reasoning by which Scottish Forestry concluded that an EIA was, or was not, required.
The area identified in the information request lies within the Cairngorms National Park; therefore, no forestry project threshold applies under Schedule 1 of the Forestry (Environmental Impact Assessment) (Scotland) Regulations 2017. As noted above, the only request for a screening opinion submitted to Scottish Forestry under these Regulations within the specified area relates to the forestry projects included in the Strathspey Land Management Plan (Ref: 030/517/430). It is our understanding that this screening opinion does not relate to the access track identified within this information request, although the precise location of the track has not been explicitly defined, we have assumed this to be situated at Drumguish, along the B970 between Tromie Bridge and Old Milton.
5. Whether any condition was attached to the Long-Term Forest Plan approval or Felling Licence requiring, or dependent upon, a Timber Transport Management Plan (TTMP) or equivalent haulage agreement, and a copy of any such TTMP held by Scottish Forestry.
The approved Forest Plans listed above are not subject to conditions requiring Timber Transport Management Plans. However, it is expected as part of the approval process that landowners engage with the Local Authority in advance to agree on haulage arrangements, including routes and volumes, prior to commencing operations.
While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested. Therefore, we are refusing your request under the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs. The reasons why that exception applies are explained below/in the Annex to this letter.
6. The basis on which Scottish Forestry is satisfied that the public-road timber transport impacts of the harvesting operations — including on the B970 — have been adequately addressed under UK Forestry Standard requirements.
We are content that all forestry operations consented under the approved Forest Plans referenced above were assessed against the legal and good forestry practice requirements set out in the UK Forestry Standard and subject to consultation in line with our Long Term Forest Plan Applicant’s guidance, prior to our approval.
7. Any correspondence between Scottish Forestry and Highland Council, the Cairngorms National Park Authority, the Highland Timber Transport Group, Forestry and Land Scotland or WildLand Ltd in relation to timber transport arising from this harvest.
We do not hold any correspondence with any of the parties identified above in relation to timber transport in the area identified in the information request.
While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested. Therefore we are refusing your request under the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs. The reasons why that exception applies are explained below/in the Annex to this letter.
8. Whether any Strategic Timber Transport Scheme (STTS) funding has been awarded or applied for in connection with the Drumguish access track, and, if so, the award year, amount, conditions, and any post-award monitoring.
No Strategic Timber Transport Scheme funding has been awarded or applied for in connection with the Drumguish access track.
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 information) and 10(4)(a) of the EIRs (information not held) applies to some of the information you have requested. Please see Annex A for the reason(s) this/these exception(s) apply.
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.
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. Therefore, we are refusing your request under the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs.