M8 emergency roadworks at junction 16 and 17: EIR release

Information requested

With regard to the “Emergency Works: M8 J16 - J17 Woodside Viaducts” you asked "to register both a complaint and an FOI request. The knock-on effect these works are creating is significant, there are substantial traffic jams at all times now in this area.

I would like under the FOI Act the following:
1. All RAMS for this project.

2. All Engineers reports (As to the cause) and remedy.

3. The traffic management plant.

4. All associated costings."

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.

1. Please see Annex A to this response for a copy of all RAMS we hold for the “Emergency Works: M8 J16 - J17 Woodside Viaducts”. 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.

2. An exception under regulation 10(4)(d) of the EIRs (unfinished or incomplete information) applies to the information you have requested because the engineering reports are is still in the course of completion and are unfinished documents. This is because the reports into the cause and remedy of the situation are still currently being developed.

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. However, this is outweighed by the public interest in ensuring that unfinished or incomplete information which is still being worked on is not disclosed when it might misinform the public. We expect that the information you have requested will be available in late June/July this year, so you may wish to make a fresh request for it at that time.

3. Please see Annex B to this response for a copy of the Traffic Management plans for the “Emergency Works: M8 J16 - J17 Woodside Viaducts”. 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.

4. An exception under regulation 10(4)(d) of the EIRs (unfinished or incomplete information) applies to the information you have requested because the associated costs for the “Emergency Works: M8 J16 - J17 Woodside Viaducts” have not been completed. We are currently in the process of developing work packages to allow us to determine the likely extent, value and duration of the works.

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. 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. We expect that the information you have requested will be available late June/July this year, so you may wish to make a fresh request for it at that time.

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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