Correspondence on A77 Dutch House roundabout: EIR release

Information requested

1. The attached response states: “…Transport Scotland will take the necessary steps to resolve the issue you have highlighted during a future closure of the A77.” Please provide details of what these steps actually are.

2. Given that there a series of errors made that caused the original issue, it is in the public interest as the results affected the a sizeable section of the public. I again request the following: All communication, internal and external, from the 15/02/22 to 14/04/22 regarding the work at the A77 Dutch House Roundabout.

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.

To aid with my response I have retained the numbering from your request above.

1. With regards to the letter from my colleague to yourself, dated 6 April 2022. I can confirm the following steps were taken:

• Transport Scotland discussed the matter with our Operating Company Amey who undertook a de-brief session. Amey investigated the road closure from an operational perspective and identified that during the reports of poor local driver behaviour around Symington, their control room could have been more proactive in contacting the Local Authority (Ayrshire Roads Alliance) about the issue to enable them to determine whether they would have taken action and in what form.
• Transport Scotland discussed the matter with Ayrshire Roads Alliance who at a Council liaison meeting on 26 May 2022 agreed to investigate further mitigation measures that can be implemented on their local road network in any future road closures at this location.
• Further actions will also be to ensure that future mobile Variable Message Text (VMS) does not state the carriageway is closed “AFTER SYMINGTON” to avoid driver confusion
• Transport Scotland will take on board the above points in the future planning of road closures at Dutchhouse to ensure that any “lessons learned” are implemented.

2. Please see Annex A to this response for a copy of all internal and external email held from the 15/02/22 to 14/04/22 regarding the work at the A77 Dutch House Roundabout as requested.

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.

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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 202300375578 - Information Released - Annex A

File type

21 page PDF

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2.1 MB