EIR/202500454881 · FOI/EIR · partially withheld
Copy of correspondence in relation to Montrose beach stability and dredging: EIR release
Information requested
My enquiry under FOI, EIR and INSPIRE regulations concerns a headline which appeared in The Courier newspaper on 18 July 2024. It read "Scottish Government accused of withholding important information from a report on Montrose coastal erosion."
A letter was sent on behalf of Mairi McAllan, then Secretary for transport, net zero and just transition concerning the potential impact of dredging on beach stability at Montrose and the deliberate omission of any reference to it in the following report funded by The Scottish Government; A.F.Rennie et al (2021) Dynamic Coast: Adaption and Resilience Options for Montrose Bay.CRW2017_8. Scotland's Centre of Expertise for Waters (CREW).
Please provide a copy of the letter sent on Ms McAllans behalf.
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.
Request for a copy of correspondence in relation to Montrose beach stability and dredging
I have included a copy of the information you have requested in Annex B.
On reviewing materials within the scope of your request, an exception has been applied in line with the EIRs. The exception applied can be found in Annex A.
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.