Information pertaining to Local Development Plans and Strategic Development Plans: EIR Release

Information requested

You asked for information and data regarding Local Development Plans (LDPs) and Strategic Development Plans (SDPs).

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.

Response

I enclose a copy of some of the information you requested in an excel spreadsheet (please see the Contents tab which outlines the data we hold). This is information is collated from various spreadsheets used from 2014 to present. It includes data from Development Plan Schemes, and data provided by the Heads of Planning Scotland (HOPS) network.

Under the terms of the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs (information not held), the Scottish Government is not required to provide information which it does not have. The Scottish Government does not have all the information you have requested in the format requested because this information is maintained by the planning authority and not the Scottish Government.

Details of adoption dates of Local Development Plans and Strategic Development Plans (SDPs) is public information and available from the respective planning authorities’ websites. Links to each planning authority’s ‘planning webpages’ is provided on the Heads of Planning Scotland website: https://hopscotland.org.uk/councils/. Documentation issued by the Scottish Government relating to individual plans, including letters relating to adoption, is published on our website: https://www.gov.scot/publications/local-development-plan-correspondence-list/.

This exception is subject to the 'public interest test'. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstancesof this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the publicinterest 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 informationabout preparation and adoption of local and strategic development plans, clearly we cannot provideinformation which we do not hold.

Your right to request a review

If you are unhappy with this response to your EIRs request, you may ask us to carry out an internal review of the response, by writing to Sean Neill, Director for Local Government and Housing, at DirectorforLocalGovernment&Housing@gov.scot. Your review request should explain why you are dissatisfied with this response, and should be made within 40 working days from the date when youreceived this letter. We will complete the review and tell you the result, within 20 working days from thedate when we receive your review request.

If you are not satisfied with the result of the review, you then have the right to appeal to the Scottish Information Commissioner. More detailed information on your appeal rights is available on the Commissioner's website at: http://www.itspublicknowledge.info/YourRights/Unhappywiththeresponse
/AppealingtoCommissioner.aspx.

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.

Annex A

File type

Excel document

File size

605.2 kB