Request
Regarding the FLOW Park project on the Moray coast would like to see:
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A copy of the seabed lease for this project.
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Full details of all public and environmental consultations that took place, including dates, before the lease was granted. Who was informed and by what means were they informed.
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Responses from all consulted environmental agencies.
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An assurance that this project will be paused until a full public consultation has taken place.
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An undertaking to hold a public consultation at which Crown Estates Scotland will attend along with all of the environmental agencies which have been consulted on this project.
Response
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Crown Estate Scotland does not have a lease agreement with Offshore Solutions Group for the Moray Firth FLOW Park project area. A subsidiary of Offshore Solutions Group has an exclusivity agreement for the area in question.
An exclusivity agreement places a hold on a specific area for a fixed period of time. During that time Crown Estate Scotland will not enter similar agreements with others over the same area of seabed. It does not guarantee that a long term lease will be signed. It does not grant full development rights to an area.
Such early-stage agreements do not mean that a proposal will go ahead and during this initial scoping phase other activities – including fishing – can continue. If a developer subsequently decides to submit a formal consent application, this proposal would be subject to the usual comprehensive process of Scottish Government regulators and local authority review before any lease could be considered. This process would involve public consultation and afford local people and all relevant stakeholders the opportunity to share their views.
In early commercial discussions of this sort, it is not Crown Estate Scotland’s role to conduct a consultation with all potentially relevant stakeholders. However, we do actively encourage project developers to undertake early engagement with other seabed users and local stakeholders.
A summary of the Exclusivity Agreement in question:
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Covers a period of up to 2 years in duration (in this case, up to April 2027)
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Enables the developer to investigate the site in respect of the Proposed Project: the establishment of a designated and exclusive area for the temporary and safe anchorage of floating offshore wind assets (and associated safety and security buoys).
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Covers two separate areas of the Moray Firth totalling 36.44km2
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Allows the developer to conduct a limited range of Permitted Operations (surveys) provided that any statutory consents and requirements are in place, and subject to existing public rights including of navigation and fishing
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Commits both parties to work together to explore the structure and valuation of any further seabed agreements in relation to the project
A copy of the Exclusivity Agreement has been withheld under 10(5)e of EIRs “commercial confidentiality.” The particulars of the agreement contain information that is commercial in nature and disclosing such information would likely cause substantial harm to our economic interest; therefore, exception 10(5)(e) – confidentiality of commercial or industrial information under EIRs has been applied.
This exception is subject to the ‘public interest test.’ At this time, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exception. We recognise that there is public interest in releasing information, to be an open, transparent and accountable public organisation and to have an overview of the live agreements in a local area. However, in this instance, this is outweighed by the public interest not to disclose information about the structure of the agreement or particulars regarding fee amounts agreed between Crown Estate Scotland and an other organisation. This information is commercially sensitive, and its release could prejudice future commercial discussions for similar agreements. This is a legal document signed with the presumption of confidentiality. The release of this information would affect the ability of Crown Estate Scotland to generate lasting value for the people of Scotland. We have provided a summary of key elements of the document to provide further context.
At this time, the public interest upholds the exception.
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Crown Estate Scotland were invited to participate in a public consultation in Findhorn on Tuesday, 11 November at 6pm.
As above, no lease has been granted, a formal application process would involve public consultation and afford local people and all relevant stakeholders the opportunity to share their views.
In early commercial discussions of this sort, it is not Crown Estate Scotland’s role to conduct a consultation with all potentially relevant stakeholders. However, we do actively encourage project developers to undertake early engagement with other seabed users and local stakeholders.
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We hold no responses from all consulted environmental agencies.
As above, if a developer subsequently decides to submit a formal consent application, this proposal would be subject to the usual comprehensive process of Scottish Government regulators and local authority review before any lease could be considered.
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It is not for Crown Estate Scotland to pause the project, we therefore cannot provide assurance as we do not hold information about this.
If the developer decides to submit an application, the established application process will be followed. This process would involve public consultation and afford local people and all relevant stakeholders the opportunity to share their views.
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As above, in early commercial discussions of this sort, it is not Crown Estate Scotland’s role to undertake to hold a public consultation with all potentially relevant stakeholders. However, we do actively encourage project developers to undertake early engagement with other seabed users and local stakeholders.
We do not hold information pertaining to this part of your request.
Please find more information about the FLOW Park Project available on our website: FOI requests related to FLOW Park Moray | Crown Estate Scotland. We will continue to update this.
