Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route compensation costs: EIR release

Information requested

With specific reference to whole Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route and all of the land affected by this whole project.

1. The total number of Compulsory Purchase Order claims made to date.

2. Total estimated budget for the CPOs.

3. Number of CPO claims settled to date (whether fully or partially).

4. Total value of the CPO claims settled to date (fully and partially).

5. Number of properties demolished in the construction of the AWPR.” I am told that there are 63 outstanding applications to the Lands Tribunal for Scotland in relation to the AWPR which are sisted pending further negotiations.

6 - I am trying to find out what the quantum of the claims in relation to these 63 outstanding applications is.

7 - I am also trying to find out how many of the 63 are linked to the test case won by the SRUC here...[2021] CSIH 32 XA22/20 2021csih32.pdf (scotcourts.gov.uk)

8 - What is the total quantum of the claims in relation to point 7?

9 - I wish to know how many of the landowners of all of the land affected by the above project have applied for a Land Tribunal to date?

10 - How many of these cases have been sisted so far?

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.

Please find below response to requests for information you made in your email.

Response to your request

In regards to your request the majority of the information you have requested has been previously issued under FOI 202100231022 and can be viewed at the following link: https://www.gov.scot/publications/foi-202100231022/ . To confirm your points listed 1,2, 5,6,7,8,9,10 are answered within the previous FOI and the information provided within this previous request has not changed.

In regards to your points listed 3 and 4 please see updated figures below;

3. Total number of claims settled on a full and final basis is 194. Additionally we have made advance payments on a further 68 claims.

4. Total compensation paid for land acquisition to the date of your request is £118.5m.

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.