Sale of land at Glencrispesdale Estate: EIR release

Information requested

How much was sum of the sale of land at Glencrispesdale Estate to the RSPB from NatureScot?

Are there minutes of meetings prior to the sale, with key stakeholders involved in the sale, including NatureScot and RSPB?

Is there documentation outlining if the estate was to be sold on the open market or if a private buyer had contacted to purchase the land from NatureScot?

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.

In the first part of your request, you asked how much was the sum of the sale of land at Glencrispesdale Estate to the RSPB from NatureScot?

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not hold this information. Therefore we are refusing this request under the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs.

This exception 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 exception. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exception. While we recognise that there may be some public interest in information about the sale of land at Glencrispesdale Estate to the RSPB from NatureScot, clearly we cannot provide information which we do not hold.

Whilst the Scottish Government does not hold any of this information, I suggest you may wish to contact NatureScot at the following contact details who may some of the information you have requested.

NatureScot
Information Officer
NatureScot
Battleby
Redgorton
Perth
PH1 3EW
Email: foi@nature.scot

You also asked if there are minutes of meetings prior to the sale, with key stakeholders involved in the sale, including NatureScot and RSPB? I can confirm that there were minutes of meetings prior to the sale, with key stakeholders involved in the sale, including NatureScot and RSPB.

You also asked if there is documentation outlining if the estate was to be sold on the open market or if a private buyer had contacted to purchase the land from NatureScot? I can confirm that there is documentation outlining if the estate was to be sold on the open market or if a private buyer had contacted to purchase the land from NatureScot.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.