Correspondence regarding FPA-10866 Middle Feddal felling permission: EIR release

Information requested

Correspondence between [SF Woodland Officer] and [...] the applicant [for] the felling area [FPA- 0866 Middle Feddal]. This is especially regarding the new mentioned thinning area of the whole little woodland and the background of a recent planning application that was withdrawn after 15 months in March 2024. 

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, in this instance we are unable to provide some of the information you have requested because an exception under regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs (information not held at time of request) applies to the information requested. This is because we do not hold any correspondence between the named Woodland Officer and the felling permission applicant.

However, in the interests of disclosure, we do hold correspondence between the Woodland Officer and the agent acting on behalf of the felling permission applicant. A copy of that correspondence is attached. Personal information has been redacted from the correspondence in accordance with an exception under regulation 11(2) (personal data of a third party) of the EIRs.

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FOI - 202400417961 - Information released - Emails

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