Broadford Native Woodland, Isle of Skye: EIR release

Information requested

Legislation about two areas of woodland […] in Broadford, on the Isle of Skye [reference 18FGS29238].

I am requesting sight of the recently-prepared full report of the inspection/audit, including disclosure of the financial issues.

The landowner is currently in contract negotiations with a large multi-national company called Sodexo to lease them for an initial period of 5 years the whole of the enclosure to the west of the B8083. Sodexo propose to build on this site an accommodation camp for 350 workers who would be involved in building the new large electricity sub-station at Old Corry, about 2km away. Highland Council has already designated Sodexo's proposal - which is at the pre-application notice stage - as "major development". Such plans as have been made available by their planning agents show that the whole of the enclosure will be utilised (accommodation units, dining block, chemical toilets block, medical room, launderette, gymnasium, shop, bar, internal road network, car-parking for 280 vehicles and a bus-stand for transporting workers to and from work sites).

There would be no space for trees - much of the new planting and natural regeneration in this enclosure is thriving but it would ALL have to be cut down to make way for the construction of the camp and its infrastructure.

In such circumstances, would I be correct in assuming that the landowner would be required to repay all the funds he has received thus far for work that he is now choosing to abort? If not, why not?

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

I am requesting sight of the recently-prepared full report of the inspection/audit, including disclosure of the financial issues.

Please find attached the information we hold in relation to your request, i.e.:

• A copy of the inspection report following a site visit on 14 May 2024.
• A copy of our email to the beneficiary’s agent highlighting the results of that inspection and requesting a remedial plan be provided by 31 July 2024.
• A copy of the contract schedule of works.

As the applicant is still under contract, should they not implement the remedial plan returning the woodland creation scheme to contract standard in an acceptable timescale, then Scottish Forestry can reclaim grant monies paid to the applicant to date.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide some of the information you have requested because an exception under regulation 11(2) of the EIRs (personal data relating to a third party) applies to some of the information you have requested. This information has been redacted in the provided documents.

For further detail on the application of these exceptions, please see Annex A below.

There would be no space for trees - much of the new planting and natural regeneration in this enclosure is thriving but it would ALL have to be cut down to make way for the construction of the camp and its infrastructure. In such circumstances, would I be correct in assuming that the landowner would be required to repay all the funds he has received thus far for work that he is now choosing to abort? If not, why not?

Woodland removal is controlled through provisions in the Scottish Government’s Policy on the control of woodland removal and within National Planning Framework 4 - Policy 6 Forestry, Woodlands and trees.

Where woodland removal is consented under the planning system, this would normally require that compensatory planting is carried out and / or grant monies repaid.

ANNEX A

REASONS FOR NOT PROVIDING INFORMATION

Personal data relating to third party

An exception under regulation 11(2) of the EIRs (personal information) applies to some the information requested because it is personal data of a third party and disclosing it would contravene the data protection principles in Article 5(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation and in section 34(1) of the Data Protection Act 2018. This exception is not subject to the ‘public interest test’, so we are not required to consider if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exception.

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 202400417457 - Information Released - Documents 1-6

File type

33 page PDF

File size

4.1 MB