Your request
You asked for:
Subject: Review of noise guidance for onshore wind turbines
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”.
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.
Note: (This shows that Noise Consultants Limited, 23 Coldharbour Road, Bristol was awarded the contract. Further investigation leads us to believe that the Guidance will be published in the Spring of 2025).
For further information, you may wish to contact the UK Government directly.
Your right to request a review
If you are unhappy with this response to your EIRs request, you may ask us to carry out an
internal review of the response, by writing to Kersti Berge, Director of Energy and Climate
Change – C/O FOI@gov.scot and C/O this postal address:
FOI Unit 1E.10
St Andrew’s House
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