EIR/202500467860 · FOI/EIR · not held
Tambowie Biogas Plant and hazardous substances: EIR release
Information requested
You asked for - In relation to our concerns regarding a potential planning oversight, made on behalf of the Scottish Ministers, in relation to Hazardous Substances at Tambowie Biogas Plant, I refer to MERA's letter to DPEA of 15th April 2025, https://www.dpea.scotland.gov.uk/Document.aspx? id=1085802
1. Correspondence with statutory consultees - Please can we receive a copy of all the Reporter's correspondence to and from SEPA, and to and from HSE, in relation to Hazardous Substances Consent and COMAH Regulations 2015 for Tambowie Biogas Plant (PPA-200-2081), including but not restricted to correspondence dealing with the specific quantities of substances to be stored at the plant. We have been unable to find this correspondence on the DPEA website.
2. Calculation checks - Please may we have a copy of the Reporter's own calculation checks in relation to Hazardous Substance Consent and COMAH lower tier threshold, on behalf of the Scottish Ministers.
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. All of the information you have requested is available from the DPEA website - https://www.dpea.scotland.gov.uk/CaseDetails.aspx?id=125404 You will see the original consultation information submitted by the planning authority gathered at the application stages under the "Authority Response" tab. Further written submissions with SEPA can be found under "Further Written Submissions" tab. We do not hold any other consultation information in relation to this appeal. 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.
2. As identified in the decision notice, the establishment (the appeal site) would store up to 4 tonnes of biogas and 20 tonnes of LPG. The individual thresholds before hazardous substances consent is required for these substances is 10 tonnes for biogas and 25 tonnes for LPG. As stated in the notice, neither of these thresholds would be breached as per Schedule 1 of the Town and Country Planning (Hazardous Substances) (Scotland) Regulations 2015.
The decision notice refers to the aggregate quantity of substances. To ensure conciseness and efficiency, the reporter did not consider it necessary to add specific calculations for aggregated substances but noted the provisions set out in the regulations and the associated Planning Circular 03/2015 on hazardous substances.
Paragraphs B15 to B17 of the Circular refer to “The Addition Rule”. B16 advises that “hazardous substances present in amounts less than their controlled quantities will be added together according to the addition rule (see Note 5 of the Notes to Parts 1 and 2 of Schedule 1). This involves expressing quantities of hazardous substances with similar hazards present as partial fractions of the controlled quantities and adding them together. If the sum is 1 or greater, then consent is required for each of the substances which have been included in the calculation”. While, B17 notes that “if a substance is named in Part 2 of Schedule 1 then the quantity in column 2 of Part 2 should be used. For substances with quantities marked with an asterisk (hydrogen, natural gas (including LNG) and LPG), the controlled quantities specified in Note 5 in the Notes to Parts 1 and 2 in Schedule 1 should be used. This is because we have adopted lower controlled quantities than the Directive for the individual presence of these substances in Scotland”.
As stated in note 5 of the regulations, the formula for calculating the sum of aggregation is qn (the quantity of a below-threshold substance which is present at the establishment) divided by CQn (the quantity corresponding to that substances specified in column 2 of Part 1 or 2 of this schedule (except for Hydrogen where CQ is to be 5, and for liquefied petroleum gas and natural gas (including liquified natural gas) where CQ is to be 50). The allowance of 50 tonnes for LPG is critical as other parties have assumed the individual threshold of 25 tonnes applies to the aggregation calculation.
Consequently, the calculation for the establishment subject to the appeal was 4/10 (0.4) for biogas and 20/50 for LPG (0.4) which equals 0.8. That aggregated figure is below the sum of 1 meaning that no hazardous substances consent was required.
Useful links as mentioned above - Town and Country Planning (Hazardous Substances) (Scotland) Regulations 2015 Circular 3/2015: Planning Controls for Hazardous Substances
About FOI
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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.
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