Publication - FOI/EIR release

A96 Dualling East of Huntly to Aberdeen designs: EIR release

Published: 25 July 2019
Topic: Public sector, Transport
FOI reference: FOI/19/01509
Date received: 24 June 2019
Date responded: 19 July 2019

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

Information requested

You asked for:-

“Under the terms of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 and the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 please could you supply me with all and any information, data, correspondence etc that AmeyArup have in relation to the Plan and Profile of the entire length of the Violet Route identified in the A96 Dualling East of Huntly to Aberdeen project, and including any designs for the bridge over the River Don.”

Response

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.

I enclose the following Drawings as requested:

A96PEA-AMAR-HGN-SWI-DR-CH-334001 – Violet Route Plan and Profile Sheet 1 of 4
A96PEA-AMAR-HGN-SWI-DR-CH-334002 – Violet Route Plan and Profile Sheet 2 of 4
A96PEA-AMAR-HGN-SWI-DR-CH-334003 – Violet Route Plan and Profile Sheet 3 of 4
A96PEA-AMAR-HGN-SWI-DR-CH-334004 – Violet Route Plan and Profile Sheet 4 of 4

These Drawings reflect the design as shown at the Public Drop-in engagement events held in May 2019 and as noted on each, the route options and junction layouts will be subject to further development as we further progress the design and assessment of the scheme.

As the cumulative size of the drawings noted above is nearly 62mb a DvD containing the drawings will be issued separately by post along with a copy of this letter.

The .pdf files have been reduced in file size and attach below. if you do wish to have a copy of the original versions, please contact us at the address below and we will be happy to provide.

At this juncture of the A96 Dualling East of Huntly to Aberdeen Design Manual for Roads and Bridges (DMRB) Stage 2 route options assessment all structures are conceptual, therefore I cannot confirm that there is a proposed design for the River Don crossing at Kintore.

With regards to your request for the design of the structures crossing over the River Don, an exception under regulation 10(4)(d) of the EIRs (unfinished or incomplete information) applies to the information you have requested because it is material which is still in the course of completion. The structures for each of the options under consideration on the A96 Dualling East of Huntly to Aberdeen scheme are currently being developed to an appropriate level of detail to inform the preferred route option decision expected to be announced and reported in a DMRB Stage 2 Scheme Assessment Report later this year.

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 as part of open, transparent and accountable government, and this will be met by the release of the DMRB Stage 2 Scheme Assessment Report later this year. However, this is outweighed by the public interest in ensuring that unfinished or incomplete information which is still in being worked on is not disclosed when it might misinform the public.

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