Freedom of Information Request - Proposed Galloway National Park Costs
Date: 24 June 2025
Our ref: SIR180535/A5223825
Information Request – Proposed Galloway National Park Costs
Your Request
• The total cost of the consultation on the proposed Galloway and Ayrshire National Park.
• The total cost of any other work carried out on the proposals.
Our Response
We have discussed your request with team responsible with NatureScot and can provide you with the following information:
1. Total project spend for NatureScot on the reporting work for the proposed Galloway and Ayrshire National Park (as at 20/6/24) - £163,496.55. Please note that these are not quite finalised, as there are some further minor costs that we are awaiting invoices for. We intend to put the final costs on our website as an additional FAQ, probably in early July.
2. You also requested information on “The total cost of any other work carried out on the proposals”. While we have been able to provide this for our organisation, we do not hold this information for other public sector organisations or Scottish Government. For this part of your request we must apply, under the EIRs, the exemption 10(4)(a)(Information not held).
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
