Freedom of Information Request - Isle of Colonsay Estate
Date: 03 September 2025
Our ref: SIR180977/A5321051
Information Request – Isle of Colonsay Estate
Your Request
Please supply me with all correspondence between yourselves and the Isle of Colonsay Estate, its proprietor Lord Strathcona (Alex Howard) and any agents acting for them between January 1, 2023, and today’s date.
Our Response
We have discussed your request with the Operations Team, who have undertaken searches of the information that they hold. They found several documents that meet the terms of your information request, and copies of some of these documents are attached separately to this response.
Some parts of these documents have been redacted, and some documents have been withheld. The reasons for this are:
We have withheld documents that make recommendations on future actions or the status of the current AECS contract. This information is currently being considered by the Scottish Government – Rural Payments and Inspection Division (RPID), as there is a concern over the grazing regime put forward by the owners of the site. Releasing this information whilst it is still being evaluated by RPID could prejudice their assessment of the case and the final decision that they may make. We are therefore withholding the information under EIRs Regulation 10(4)(e) (Internal communications).
We have redacted information relating to personal data. Releasing personal data in response to an information request could breach the Data Protection Act 2018. We have applied, under the EIRs the exemption 11(2) (Personal Data) to this information.
We have also redacted out the agreement between the estate and their agent. We are not releasing this information under EIRs 10(5)(e) (Confidentiality of commercial or industrial information). Releasing this information could cause harm between the estate and their agent, and we have concluded that, in this case, it is not in the public interest for NatureScot to release information that would harm legitimate economic interests.
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.
We have also redacted out some information as it is out-with the scope of your request, as it deals with other subjects or topics e.g. setting up a purchase order on our finance system.
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).
