EIR/202600516007 · FOI/EIR · clarification
Total volume of sediment removed from the river South Esk: EIR release
Information requested
I am writing under FOI/EIR regulations to find out if you know the total volume of sediment removed from the river South Esk since capital dredging commenced in 1973.
I have been unable to obtain this information from Montrose Port Authority, who are obstructive and unhelpful. Therefore I am asking Marine Scotland as you continue to issue Montrose Port Authority with disposal licences. I understand Montrose Port Authority does not require your permission to dredge but does require your permission to deposit.
The information I have to date is as follows:
2010 | 197,970 2011 | 152,927 2012 | 121,728 2013 | 0 2014 | 62,552 2015 | 80,320 2016 | 257,080 2017 | 103,200 2018 | 145,169 2019 | 65,436 2020 | 57,780 2021 | 151,499 2022 | 103,914 2023 | 186,451 2024 | 91,154 (as of March)
Therefore I only require volumes for the period 1973-2010 and 2024 to present. This is to prevent you charging me for information which should be freely available to the public.
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.
As a point of clarification to the second paragraph of your request, if the statutory conditions are met, the Montrose Port Authority may apply Article 26 of The Marine Licensing (Exempted Activities) (Scottish Inshore Region) Order 2011 to exempt dredging from the requirement for a marine licence.
One of those conditions is that the activity is approved by Scottish Ministers and therefore not accurate to say that permission is not required. A marine licence is required to deposit a substance or object in the sea.
Total volume of sediment removed from the river South Esk for the period 1973 – 2010
While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not hold the information you have requested. This is because the data for the period prior to 2010 is not held by the Scottish Government as it pre-dates the Marine (Scotland) Act 2010.
Therefore, this is a formal notice under Regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs confirming that the Scottish Government does not hold this information.
This exception is subject to the ‘public interest test’. It is important to note that although we do not hold the information and have applied Regulation 10(4)(a) – information not held, it is a requirement that we have to apply the public interest test.
While we recognise that there may be some public interest in the information you have requested, we cannot provide information which we do not hold.
Wider guidance on the Environmental Information regime can be found in the Key Concepts section under ‘Information Not Held’ and ‘The Public Interest Test’ in the attached Scottish Information Commissioner Briefings and Guidance document. Further guidance on the public interest test can also be found on page 8 of the Scottish Information Commissioner guidance.
You may wish to note that one of the purposes of collecting the data was to report to the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (CEFAS), an executive agency sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA), in order to meet international obligations. Information prior to 2010 may be held with CEFAS and further information on how to contact them can be found on their website here: Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science - Make a Freedom of Information (FOI) request
Total volume of sediment removed from the river South Esk for the period 2024 – 2025
2024: 170,920 wet tons 2025: 90,720 wet tons
Total volume of sediment removed from the river South Esk for year 2026
While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not hold the information you have requested. This is because the data for year 2026 has not been submitted yet.
It may help if I explain that Licensees, in this case, Montrose Port Authority, are required, as a condition of the licence, to submit annual returns to the Scottish Government. We then collate the information for the calendar year and submit it to the Centre for Environment Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (CEFAS) early the following year.
The data is expected to be completed and submitted to CEFAS in early 2027. You may therefore wish to submit an EIR request at that time to obtain the 2026 data.
Therefore, this is a formal notice under Regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs confirming that the Scottish Government does not hold this information.
This exception is subject to the ‘public interest test’. It is important to note that although we do not hold the information and have applied Regulation 10(4)(a) – information not held, it is a requirement that we have to apply the public interest test.
While we recognise that there may be some public interest in the information you have requested, we cannot provide information which we do not hold.
Wider guidance on the Environmental Information regime can be found in the Key Concepts section under ‘Information Not Held’ and ‘The Public Interest Test’ in the attached Scottish Information Commissioner Briefings and Guidance document. Further guidance on the public interest test can also be found on page 8 of the Scottish Information Commissioner guidance.
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.
Contact Please quote the FOI reference Central Correspondence Unit Email: contactus@gov.scot Phone: 0300 244 4000 The Scottish Government St Andrew's House Regent Road Edinburgh EH1 3DG
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, this is a formal notice under Regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs confirming that the Scottish Government does not hold this information.
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