Publication - FOI/EIR release

A78 Largs to Skelmorlie speed limit: EIR release

Published: 4 January 2024
Topic: Public sector
FOI reference: 202300355981
Date received: 9 May 2023
Date responded: 17 May 2023

Information request and response under the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004.

Information requested

All communications and papers relating to the decision to put in place a temporary 40mph speed limit on this stretch of road, including any evidence regarding the claim this is to improve road safety, and what consultations were made locally before going ahead.

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

Please see Annexes A - E to this response for some of the information relating to the decision to put in place a temporary 40mph speed restriction on the length of the A78 Greenock–Prestwick Trunk Road from the southern village gateway for Skelmorlie, located 11 metres or thereby south of the extended southern kerb line of Eglinton Terrace, Skelmorlie, to the northern village gateway for Largs, located 640 metres or thereby north of the centre line of Danefield Avenue, Largs, a distance of 4560 metres or thereby, information conforming the reason for the temporary 40mph speed restriction and a copy of the press notice published in the Largs & Millport Weekly News.

While our aim is to provide information wherever possible, an exception under regulation 11(2) of the EIRs (personal information) applies to some of the information requested because it is personal data of a third party and disclosing it would contravene the data protection principles in Article 5(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation and in section 34(1) of the Data Protection Act 2018. This exception is not subject to the 'public interest test', so we are not required to consider if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exception.

In this instance we are unable to provide some of the information you have requested because an exception under regulation 10(4)(e) of the EIRs (internal communications) applies to some of the information because it is internal communication between Transport Scotland staff members.

This exception 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 exception. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exception. We recognise that there is some public interest in release; however, this is outweighed by the public interest in maintaining a high quality, internal deliberation and decision-making process.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.