A76 Mauchline Speed Management Study: EIR release

Information requested

"A copy of the report submitted to Transport Scotland by Operating Company AMEY to investigate vehicle speeds and the position of the 30 mph gateway entering Mauchline from the north. (East Ayrshire, Scotland)"

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.

Please see Annex A to this response for a copy of the A76 Mauchline Speed Management Study. Please note this is still in draft format at the present time.

An exception under regulation 11(2) of the EIRs (personal information) applies to some 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.

For your awareness, the Scottish Government remains committed to making our streets safer and to enabling more sustainable travel choices that benefit public health and our environmental targets. Our 2022 Programme for Government confirms that position with a commitment to “Roll out our national strategy for expanding 20 mph zones with more roads and areas reducing their speed limits to 20 mph – making our streets feel safer and encouraging active travel”. Implementation of this policy will have a positive impact on the perceptions of road danger whilst encouraging people to walk, wheel and cycle. Creating more pleasant streets and neighbourhoods, supporting Scotland’s health, safety and active travel aspirations.

As part of the above task, along with other road authorities in Scotland, Transport Scotland has carried out an assessment of existing 30 mph speed limits on its trunk road network to identify those which meet specific criteria for consideration of a 20 mph speed limit. This includes the existing 30 mph speed limit on the A76 at Mauchline.

This assessment has been completed for the trunk road network and the findings are currently being considered. In finalising our decision regarding the existing speed limit extents in Mauchline we are making this in conjunction with the consideration of the findings of the assessment with respect to 20 mph speed limits on the trunk road network.

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 202300374391 - Information Released - Annex A

File type

21 page PDF

File size

1.4 MB