A83 'Rest and Be Thankful' road maintenance costs: EIR release

Information requested

A breakdown from 2007 to now showing how much has been spent whether directly or indirectly by the Scottish Government/Transport Scotland or the maintenance agency Bear Scotland on the A83 at the Rest and Be Thankful firstly on:

1. Normal day-to-day maintenance.

2. Clear ups as a result of landslips on the road or areas around it like the Old Military Road diversion. That would include clearance, traffic management, all contractor immediate repair costs, cost of contract procurement and management.

3. Mitigation moves related to preventing landslips, like catch pits and walls.

4. Other improvements to the road which may not be directly associated with preventing landslips including work to the Old Military Road diversion.

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.

Response to your request

1. While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance Transport Scotland does not have some of the information you have requested. Therefore we are refusing your request under the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs as records prior to financial year 2013/14 are not held.

The costs of general and continuing cyclical works and inspections of all trunk roads are held on a full route basis, that cannot be interrogated for specific locations. However costs for the landslide response actions can be and these are noted in Annex A.

2. While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance Transport Scotland does not have some of the information you have requested. Therefore we are refusing your request under the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs as records prior to financial year 2013/14 are not held.

Please see Annex B to this response, cost of clearance, traffic management, all contractor immediate repair costs, cost of contract procurement and management from April 2013.

3. While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance Transport Scotland does not have some of the information you have requested. Therefore we are refusing your request under the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs as records prior to financial year 2013/14 are not held.

Please see Annex C to this response, mitigation costs from April 2013.

4. While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance Transport Scotland does not have some of the information you have requested. Therefore we are refusing your request under the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs as records prior to financial year 2013/14 are not held.

Please see Annex D to this response, other costs from April 2013.

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.

EIR 202400399691 - Information Released - Annex A to D

File type

10 page PDF

File size

174.1 kB