A9 Blackford to Auchterarder major improvements: EIR release

Information requested

"1) Major Improvements and opening dates to the A9 Between Blackford and Auchterarder.
2) Opening dates for listed road schemes
(a) A9 Blackford Bypass
(b) A9 Burnside to Broxden
(c) A9 Helmsdale Bridge
(d) A9 Dunbeath Bridge
(e) A835 Gorstan to Garve
(f) A835 Gorston to Silverbridge
(g) A835 Contin River Bridge"

Following clarifications you amended your request to ask for "The Names of Major Improvements and opening dates for the A9 Trunk road Between Blackford Bypass and Auchterarder Bypass, from 1971 to 1981."

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.

On checking our records we can found the following improvements were carried out in the area and time period you were interested in:
Blackford Bypass - Open to traffic in December 1980
Loaninghead Diversion - Open to traffic in November 1975
Auchterarder and Aberuthven Bypass - Open to traffic in October 1983

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