FOI/202300384784 · FOI/EIR · partially withheld
Afforestation applications: EIR release
Information requested
Since 1 April, 2019 how many afforestation applications have been received by (a) South Scotland, (b) Central Scotland, (c) Perth and Argyll, (d) Highlands and Islands and (e) Grampian area offices? Please provide the number for each individual area office. How many afforestation applications to (a) South Scotland, (b) Central Scotland, (c) Perth and Argyll, (d) Highlands and Islands and (e) Grampian area offices were for more than 20 ha? Please provide the number for each individual area office. How many of [the total] applications met the threshold that requires an EIA to be carried out? Please provide the numbers for each of the individual area offices, specified in Question (1) and Question (2) above.
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.
Please find attached a list of all afforestation applications which met the screening thresholds for Environmental Impact Assessment, broken down by Conservancy office as requested and noting a) the hectarage of each application b) whether consent was deemed to be required. Please see our website pages on Environmental Impact Assessment for further information as to the thresholds and procedures.
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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.