A83 between Cairdow and Arrochar closures due landslips: EIR release

Information requested

"The precise locations on the A83 between Cairndow and Arrochar in Glen Kinglas and Glen Croe where landslips have blocked the carriageway resulting in closure for any period of time since 1980.

Alternatively, if you do not hold information as far back as 1980 or this is too costly to retrieve, for whatever period you do hold information for.

It would be preferable if this information could be provided in a GIS format but alternatively, a spreadsheet would be satisfactory."

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 Transport Scotland does not have some the information you have requested. Therefore we are refusing your request under the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs. This is because we do not hold the information requested from 1980 onwards.

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. While we recognise that there may be some public interest in landslips, clearly we cannot provide information which we do not hold.

However, please see annex to this response for details of landslips which blocked the carriageway from 2004 - 2020.

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.

FoI-202000089343 - Information released - Annex A - Closures

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