Archive report query for CIN/ABS/001 (Golf Course And Resort Development): EIR release

Information requested

I’d like to check if the inquiry documents have been retained for the following case reference: CIN/ABS/001. If so, can I ask how it would be possible to view some of them? I checked at the NLS and they appear to only have the final report, not the documents / submissions outlined in appendix four.

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.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, under the exception at regulation 10(4)(b) of the EIRs a public authority may refuse a request for information if it is ‘manifestly unreasonable’. The Scottish Information Commissioner’s guidance on the regulation 10(4)(b) exception at: http://www.itspublicknowledge.info/Law/EIRs/EIRsExceptions.aspx says that there may “be instances where it is appropriate for the Commissioner to consider the proportionality of the burden on the public authority in terms of the costs and resources involved in dealing with a request when considering the application of this exception”.

In this case, the list of documents outlined in appendix 4 of extends to 26 pages (attached). On two occasions we have asked via email if the request can be narrowed but no response was received. A search would require a significant amount of resource, in turn the time and costs involved with complying to the request would be disproportionate to the possible release of information. Even given the 20 day extension allowed under the EIRs, it would not be possible to complete the substantial volume of work still required to identify all the information relevant to your request and to apply redactions to information to which exceptions apply. For these reasons, we consider that your request is manifestly unreasonable and so we are refusing it under regulation 10(4)(b).

As the exception is conditional we have applied the 'public interest test'. This means we have, in all the circumstances of this case, considered if the public interest in disclosing 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 requested, this is outweighed by the public interest in ensuring the efficient and effective use of public resources by not incurring excessive costs when complying with information requests.

As mentioned above, you may wish to consider reducing the scope of your request in order to make it manageable. For example, you could specify the documents or subheadings you are interested in or restrict your request to a specific time line, this would allow us to limit the searches that would require to be conducted. You may also find it helpful to look at the Scottish Information Commissioner's 'Tips for requesting information under FOI and the EIRs' on his website at: http://www.itspublicknowledge.info/YourRights/Tipsforrequesters.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.

EIR 202300377698 - Information released - Appendix 4

File type

27 page PDF

File size

221.1 kB