A96 Dualling - material for de-selection of the existing “on-line” A96 option: EIR release

Information requested

You asked for:-
…the briefing pack/material provided to the “decision maker”, leading to the de-selection of the existing “on-line” A96 option.

….the minutes of relevant meetings/briefings where the de-selection decision was made.

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.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide some of the information you have requested because an exception(s) under regulation(s) 11(2) of the EIRs applies to that information.

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. This exception has been applied to Appendix A, B and D contained within this response.
I enclose the following information as requested:-

• Appendix A – Extracts from the minutes of the A96 Dualling East of Huntly to Aberdeen First Fix Alignments Sifting Workshop of 19 April 2018 in relation to corridor option online Inverurie (OLI) on the A96 Dualling East of Huntly to Aberdeen scheme;
• Appendix B – Transport Scotland A96 Dualling Programme Board Paper from 29 August 2018 in relation to the outcome of the initial sifting of route options on the A96 Dualling East of Huntly to Aberdeen scheme;
• Appendix C – Presentation from the A96 Dualling Programme Board meeting of 29 August 2018 in relation to the outcome of the initial sifting of route options on the A96 Dualling East of Huntly to Aberdeen scheme; and
• Appendix D – Extracts from the minutes of the A96 Dualling Programme Board meeting held on 29 August 2018 in relation to the initial sifting of route options on the A96 Dualling East of Huntly to Aberdeen scheme.

A copy of the A96 Dualling East of Huntly to Aberdeen Online at Inverurie – Dualling and Feasibility Appraisal Report referred to in Appendix A is available from the link below.
https://www.transport.gov.scot/publication/online-at-inverurie-dualling-feasibility-and-appraisal-east-of-huntly-to-aberdeen-a96-dualling/.

In addition please find link below to the A96 Dualling East of Huntly to Aberdeen ‘First Fix Alignment Workshop Report’ which outlines the design and assessment work undertaken as part of the First Fix Alignment Development along with the outcome of the First Fix Alignment sifting exercise:
https://www.transport.gov.scot/publication/dmrb-stage-2-early-sifting-reports-east-of-huntly-to-aberdeen-a96-dualling/

- Due to the size of the files we are unable to upload the documents referred to above.
- If you wish to consider, please contact us at the address below and we will be happy to provide.

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