Flooding and drainage issues on A90 road: EIR release

Information requested

1. I'm looking for plans for how surface water drains from the A90 between the Kirriemuir junction at Forfar and Finavon Services.

2. Any other any information about how the A90 drains into the Lemno Burn, including recognised problems and proposed remedial action, including timescales to deliver?

3. Any information regarding run-off from the slopes/fields adjacent to the A90 between Kirriemuir Junction and Finavon Services, recognised problems and proposed remedial action including timescales to deliver.

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. Under the terms of the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs (information not held), Transport Scotland is not required to provide information which it does not have. We do not have the information you have requested because we do not hold plans which show how surface water drains from the A90 between the Kirriemuir junction at Forfar and Finavon Services.

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. While we recognise that there may be some public interest in information about drainage, clearly we cannot provide information which we do not hold.

2. Transport Scotland is not aware of any issue with surface water drainage at this location. Our Operating Company Amey are aware of a potential a capacity issue at the structure crossing Milton Lane which may cause the Lemno Burn to flood. This structure is the maintenance responsibility of Fife Council who can be contacted at Freedom of Information Request | Fife Council.

3. Intermittent issues have been noted during severe weather events, these continue to be monitored by our Operating Company Amey with landowner engagement to be undertaken if any issues are noted to persist.

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