Woodland creation applications rejected during clearing process: EIR release

Information requested

Can you tell me how many new woodland creation scheme applications have been rejected by Scottish Forestry during the clearing process since 2015?

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.

Response to your request

Of 1,637 woodland creation cases approved since 2015, 2 were rejected at the Clearing stage.

Please note that:

• Woodland creation is a consultative and iterative process, and we work with applicants to find project designs that are agreeable before they are formally assessed, meaning that proposals that do not meet the scheme criteria are typically filtered out or withdrawn at an earlier stage.
• Decisions regarding scheme suitability and option eligibility are made at the application assessment stage, prior to clearing.

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.