A96 Dualling East of Huntly to Aberdeen scheme route options: EIR release

Information requested

All and any information and evidence in relation to the number of residential properties within 50m of the proposed road, and the elevation of the road at those properties, for all route options in the A96 East of Huntly to Aberdeen dualling scheme.

Response

As all of 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.

Although this information is not currently held by the Scottish Government, to address your request the A96 Dualling East of Huntly to Aberdeen design consultants AmeyArup have undertaken a review of each route option using a 50m buffer, offset from the centreline of each route option. The requested information is presented in the table in Annex A and includes reference to the approximate chainage where the residential property is located. The chainages relate to the centreline shown on the plan and longsection drawings for each of the route options and they reflect the design as shown at the Public Drop-in engagement events held in May 2019. As noted on each drawing, the route options and junction layouts will be subject to further development as we further progress the design and assessment of the scheme.

There are a total of 55 residential properties located within 50m of the centreline of the route options shown on the enclosed plan and longsection drawings. Please note that 51 of the 55 properties are located alongside the existing A96 dual carriageway near Kintore.

The following drawings have been provided as part of this request:

A96PEA-AMAR-HGN-SWI-DR-CH-330001–Cyan Route Plan and Profile Sheet 1 of 3
A96PEA-AMAR-HGN-SWI-DR-CH-330003–Cyan Route Plan and Profile Sheet 3 of 3
A96PEA-AMAR-HGN-SWI-DR-CH-334001–Violet Route Plan and Profile Sheet 1 of 4
A96PEA-AMAR-HGN-SWI-DR-CH-334004–Violet Route Plan and Profile Sheet 4 of 4
A96PEA-AMAR-HGN-SWI-DR-CH-335002–Orange Route Plan and Profile Sheet 2 of 3
A96PEA-AMAR-HGN-SWI-DR-CH-335003–Orange Route Plan and Profile Sheet 3 of 3

Further information
The Design Manual for Roads and Bridges (DMRB) Stage 2 Scheme Assessment Report, which is anticipated to be published in the coming months, will include details of the number of residential properties within a 500m buffer of each of the route options. The information will be contained in the People and Communities chapter of the report. Plan and longsection drawings, which include the proposed road level and ground level for each route option, will also be published as part of the report.

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.

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.