Correspondence regarding A75 junctions: EIR release

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


Information requested

All correspondence sent or received by the Scottish Government regarding the A75 junctions at: B794 (Haugh of Urr) junction, Main Street (Twynholm) Junction or the Cumstoun Junction.

You clarified on 14 June 2023 that –

Regarding Twynholm - please can this request be considered to cover both entrances from the A75 to Main Street.

Regarding Cumstoun - this is the name given to the road by the Local Roads Authority but should be taken to be the junction where there is a sign for the ‘CocoaBean Chocolate Factory’ on the A75. It is the last junction which turns southwards off the A75 prior to Twynholm as you proceed westwards.

Regarding timescales - please consider this request to be for correspondence over the last 5 years.

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

Some of the information you have requested is available from Environmental Impact Assessment Record of Determination (transport.gov.scot). Under regulation 6(1)(b) of the EIRs, we do not have to give you information which is already publicly available and easily accessible to you in another form or format. If, however, you do not have internet access to obtain this information from the website(s) listed, then please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy.

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.

Please see Annex A to this response correspondence sent or received by Transport Scotland regarding the A75 junctions at Haugh of Urr and Twynholm junctions.

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.

202300360997 - Annex A

Contact

Please quote the FOI reference
Central Enquiry Unit
Email: ceu@gov.scot
Phone: 0300 244 4000

The Scottish Government
St Andrews House
Regent Road
Edinburgh
EH1 3DG

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