The Cabrach Trust and proliferation of onshore wind farm developments: EIR release

Information requested

If the ECU takes cognisance of the following, when granting or refusing consent:-

• Over proliferation of turbines in any one area.
• Opposition of the local population.
• Destruction of the environment and areas of natural beauty.
• Damage to the water table by excessive use of concrete. NB The Cabrach is in the heart of Scotch whisky country.
• Over supply of power nationally if current and future applications are granted.
• Failure of Scottish Government to fully monetise onshore power generation by allowing muti nationals to monopolise the market.
• Failure to factor into long term planning that a future Labour government will authorise the construction of mini nuclear reactors thus making many of the current and future turbines redundant.

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.

The answers to your questions are as follows:

• The National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4), which was approved by the Scottish Parliament, directly influences all planning and consenting decisions. NPF4 makes clear that potential impacts on communities and other receptors, including cumulative impacts, are important considerations in the decision-making process.
• Scottish Ministers have responsibility for determining applications relating to onshore generating stations with a capacity greater than 50MW and overhead line transmission infrastructure, under sections 36 and 37 of the UK Electricity Act 1989. Once an application is submitted to Scottish Ministers for consideration it is subject to consultation with statutory and non-statutory stakeholders and members of the public. It is through this consultation that local communities have an opportunity to make a representation to any live application. By law, Scottish Ministers must consider representations relating to a project made as a result of that consultation process when considering applications and proposals are considered on a case-by-case basis.
• NPF4 makes sure decision-making enables the sustainable expansion of our electricity networks and renewables infrastructure while continuing to protect our most valued natural assets and cultural heritage. The decision-making process allows a balance to be drawn between the interests of applicants, energy and planning policy, community interests and the environment.
• Following the submission of an application and Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report to the Scottish Government’s Energy Consents Unit (ECU), the consultation bodies to be consulted by the Scottish Ministers are the relevant planning authority, NatureScot, SEPA and HES and any other relevant public bodies with specific environmental responsibilities or local and regional competencies who the Scottish Ministers consider are likely to have an interest.
• Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is a means of drawing together, in a systematic way, an assessment of the likely significant environmental effects arising from a proposed development. The Electricity Works (Environmental Impact Assessment) (Scotland) Regulations 2017 (“the EIA Regulations”) apply to applications under sections 36 and 37 of the Electricity Act and set out the legislative requirements of the EIA process. The information for inclusion in EIA reports is set out in Regulation 5 and Schedule 4 of the EIA Regulations.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have some of the information you have requested. Therefore we are refusing your request under the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs. The reasons why that exception applies are that we do not hold any information related to the following queries:

• Failure of Scottish Government to fully monetise onshore power generation by allowing muti nationals to monopolise the market.
• Failure to factor into long term planning that a future Labour government will authorise the construction of mini nuclear reactors thus making many of the current and future turbines redundant.

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. 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 this information, we clearly cannot provide information which we do not hold.

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.