Reports of unauthorised tree-felling: EIR release
Information request and response under the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004.
Information requested
Reports of unauthorised tree-felling received by Scottish Forestry and any action taken by Scottish Forestry as a result.
I would be grateful if you could send me the following information:
1. Please confirm how many reports of alleged unauthorised tree felling Scottish Forestry has received since its establishment on 1 April 2019.
2. Please provide as much information as possible regarding each report of unauthorised tree felling received by Scottish Forestry, including in particular:
- The date of each report.
- The number of trees alleged to have been felled and/or the area of felling,
- The location of the alleged felling.
3. Please provide as much information as possible regarding any steps taken by Scottish Forestry to investigate each report of unauthorised felling, in particular with reference to Scottish Forestry’s ‘Unauthorised Felling Procedures’ which are set out in Appendix 2 of Scottish Forestry’s May 2019 ‘Felling Permission – Application Guidance’ document.
4. Please provide copies of all case summary reports which have been written by Scottish Forestry following receipt of any reports of unauthorised tree felling.
5. Please confirm how many temporary stop notices have been issued by Scottish Forestry since 1 April 2019.
6. Please confirm how many restocking directions have been issued by Scottish Forestry since 1 April 2019.
7. Please confirm how many unauthorised felling offences have been reported by Scottish Forestry to the Procurator Fiscal since 1 April 2019.
8. Please confirm how many prosecutions have been taken by the Procurator Fiscal vis-à-vis unauthorised tree felling, following reports from Scottish Forestry to the Procurator Fiscal.
9. Please confirm how many convictions of unauthorised tree felling have resulted from reports from Scottish Forestry to the Procurator Fiscal and provide details of any criminal penalties issued by the courts.
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.
1. Please confirm how many reports of alleged unauthorised tree felling Scottish Forestry has received since its establishment on 1 April 2019.
Scottish Forestry have 535 recorded cases of unauthorised felling since this date.
2. Please provide as much information as possible regarding each report of unauthorised tree felling received by Scottish Forestry, including in particular:
- The date of each report.
- The number of trees alleged to have been felled and/or the area of felling,
- The location of the alleged felling.
Attached to this letter is spread sheet of reported unauthorised felling incidents. It is categorized by the location of Scottish Forestry Conservancy which recorded the incident. It lists date of the incident and where appropriate the volume of timber; in many cases the felling would have been exempt and therefore volume information not recorded.
3. Please provide as much information as possible regarding any steps taken by Scottish Forestry to investigate each report of unauthorised felling, in particular with reference to Scottish Forestry’s ‘Unauthorised Felling Procedures’ which are set out in Appendix 2 of Scottish Forestry’s May 2019 ‘Felling Permission – Application Guidance’ document.
Scottish Forestry may become aware of an unauthorised felling in different ways; this might be via SF discovering a potential site whilst going about their everyday work, or reported in by a member of public.
These investigations start with desk checks into the report. This allows us to further confirm as to whether any exemptions might apply.
If we can confirm the ownership of the land, either by using our own systems or publicly available data such as the Registers of Scotland property search, we can speak to the landowner to discuss the felling and any exemptions which they believe apply, such as the trees being dangerous, dead or diseased, and require proof from them of these claimed exemptions.
If our desk checks don’t confirm any permissions or exemptions which would result in the closure of the case, we would likely plan in a visit as soon as possible to carry out a site investigation.
If we have reason to believe work is still underway which either affect our safety, or may result in further felling or otherwise remove potential evidence from the site, we can issue a Temporary Stop Notice under S.45 of the Act This allows us to prohibit the carrying out of certain activities on a site; this might generally be: felling, extraction of timber, processing or haulage.
The level of detail we record when we arrive at site depends on different factors. If it is immediately evident that any exemption is place, such as being in a certain place, being smaller than 10cm at 1.3m height or clearly dead, we may record this evidence and close the case.
Our investigations would usually involve mapping the area over which the felling has taken place and recording the volume of trees felled. This would consist or either measuring length and diameter of any felled trees, measuring stacks of fallen timber, measuring stumps of felled trees, or measuring standing adjacent even aged trees of the same species of those felled.
Once we have gathered all the required data from site, we would use this to carry out any further desk checks, to look at any claimed exemptions or further identify landownership or persons we believe to be involved.
When our enquiries are completed, we assess the evidence gathered and confirm whether there it is sufficient to justify taking action such as issuing a restocking notice or pursuing a prosecution.
4. Please provide copies of all case summary reports which have been written by Scottish Forestry following receipt of any reports of unauthorised tree felling.
Not every case has a physical report undertaken, if a phone call is made and it is clear to staff the felling is exempt (e.g. in a residential garden) the enquiry is noted and no further information recorded. Any cases recorded into our system, which contains different layers of information.
Each case file would have to be individually opened, assessed and details confirmed with information contained within having to be assessed for a number issues, including personal data, protected species, and investigations. 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 under regulation 10(4)(b) (Manifestly unreasonable requests) of the EIRs applies to some of the information you have requested, due to the high number of records covered by your request and therefore the high burden of collating and presenting the information. Please see below for details of where this exception applies.
5. Please confirm how many temporary stop notices have been issued by Scottish Forestry since 1 April 2019.
13 temporary stop notices have been issued in this time period.
6. Please confirm how many restocking directions have been issued by Scottish Forestry since 1 April 2019.
74 Restocking Directions have been issued by Scottish Forestry within this time period.
7. Please confirm how many unauthorised felling offences have been reported by Scottish Forestry to the Procurator Fiscal since 1 April 2019.
Two reports have been submitted to the Procurator Fiscal for consideration.
8. Please confirm how many prosecutions have been taken by the Procurator Fiscal vis-à-vis unauthorised tree felling, following reports from Scottish Forestry to the Procurator Fiscal.
The Procurator Fiscal have taken on one case of unauthorized felling to the prosecution phase.
9. Please confirm how many convictions of unauthorised tree felling have resulted from reports from Scottish Forestry to the Procurator Fiscal and provide details of any criminal penalties issued by the courts.
To this date, no reports submitted by Scottish Forestry to the Procurator Fiscal have resulted in a prosecution.
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.
Contact
Please quote the FOI reference
Central Enquiry Unit
Email: ceu@gov.scot
Phone: 0300 244 4000
The Scottish Government
St Andrews House
Regent Road
Edinburgh
EH1 3DG
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