Freedom of Information Request - Grants awarded to Wildland Limited or Glenfeshie Limited
Date: 01 May 2025
Our ref: SIR178972/A5110626
Information Request – Grants awarded to Wildland Limited or Glenfeshie Limited
Your Request
'All communications on grants awarded to Wildland Limited (or Ltd) and Glenfeshie Limited (or Ltd) by NatureScot in the last year.'
Our Response
We have discussed your request with our Funding Teams. We found a large number of documents that meet the terms of your request. Copies of these documents are attached separately to this response.
While we try to provide all the information that has been requested, in this case we have had to redact out some information or withheld some documents in their entirety, for the following reasons:
− We have redacted out personal data e.g. names, and withheld some documents in their entirety (CVs of individuals employed by external contractors) as to release this information in response to your request would breach the Data Protection Act 2018, so we have applied the exemption 11(2) Personal Data to this information.
− We have also redacted out some information relating to the prices submitted by the contractor. To release this information could prejudice the contractor(s) and could provide an unfair advantage to competitors in future contracts for similar work. We have therefore applied the exemption 10(5)(e)(Confidentiality of commercial or industrial information) under the EIRs to this information.
− Information relating to the benchmarking of restoration costs in assessments has also been redacted out. To release this information could prejudice the costing of future contracts and either provide an unfair advantage to competitors for future contracts and/or result in reduced value for public funding. We have applied the exemption 10(5)(e)(Confidentiality of commercial or industrial information)
− We have also redacted out a small amount of information that might identify the locations of otters, because releasing this information could increase the deliberate disturbance to these species. We do not believe it is in the public interest to release this information into the public domain that might enable possible disturbance of these species. We have therefore exempted this information under 10(5)(g)(Protection of the environment).
− We have also redacted out some information that is out-with the scope of your request as it deals with other sites not owned by either Wildland Ltd or Glenfeshie Ltd.
How We Handled Your Request
We believe you have asked for environmental information as defined in the Environmental Information (Scotland Regulations 2004 (‘the EIRs’), so we are dealing with your request under those regulations. To be able to use the EIRs, we must apply an exemption under section 39(2) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (‘FOISA’). The Scottish Information Commissioner’s guidance recommends that public authorities apply this exemption to environmental information and handle request under the EIRs.
If you would like to find out more about the access to information legislation, there is a guidance booklet available on the Scottish Information Commissioner’s website.
Review and Appeal
I hope this information meets your requirements, but if you are dissatisfied with how we have responded to your information request, please write to us within 40 working days explaining your concerns. You can contact us at Battleby, Redgorton, Perth, PH1 3EW or email us at [email protected]. We will carry out a review of our response and contact you with our findings within 20 working days.
If you are not satisfied following this, you can make an appeal to the Scottish Information Commissioner within 6 months. The Scottish Information Commissioner can be contacted at:
Scottish Information Commissioner
Kinburn Castle
Doubledykes Road
St Andrews
Fife
KY16 9DS
Telephone: 01334 464610
Yours sincerely
FOI Officer,
NatureScot
Document downloads
Due to accessibility issues the attached information, referenced above, is available on request by contacting the FOI team at [email protected]. Please reference the case number (starting with SIR).
