Review of noise guidance for onshore wind turbines: EIR release

Information requested

Could you tell me when the new Guidance is due to be published?

I am aware it has been finalised but has not yet been published. Can you tell me what is taking so long and why it is being kept secret?

Can you supply a copy of the "Invitation to Tender" for the job of producing the new Guidance, including the "Scope of the Job".

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

Current guidance for the assessment of noise from onshore wind turbines across the UK is called ETSU-R-97 and dates back to 1997. A substantial body of evidence and research has been published since the ETSU-R-97 guidance. The UK Government owns the policy and guidance in relation to noise from onshore wind turbines and is leading the work on ETSU-R-97. In 2021 they commissioned a specialist consultancy (WSP) to conduct a technical scoping review to consider whether the guidance could be refreshed.

WSP published their report in February 2023 and the UK Government have been carefully considering the recommendations from the scoping review. The UK Government have concluded that the ETSU-R-97 guidance would benefit from targeted updates to bring it into line with the most up to date evidence and policy.

The Scottish Government is a member of the ETSU steering group, which comprises of the four Governments of the UK. Through this steering group, we understand from the UK Government that the next phase of the work to update the guidance is currently ongoing, and the aim is to publish the updated ETSU-R-97 guidance in 2025.

Finally on the documents you have requested. While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have a copy of the "invitation to tender" or "scope of the job" for the work to update the ETSU-R-97 guidance. This is because this work is being led by the UK Government and we were not party to this information. We are therefore refusing your request under the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs. The reasons why that exception applies are explained below in the Annex to this letter.

Finally you may be interested in the publicly available contract summary on the UK Government website – PS24055 Update to ETSU-R-97 Onshore Wind Noise Guidance - Contracts Finder.

For further information, you may wish to contact the UK Government directly.

ANNEX

The Scottish Government does not have the information

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 information you have requested, clearly, we 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.