Grangemouth Flood Protection Scheme queries: EIR release

Information requested

The Grangemouth Flood Protection Scheme is not listed in the table Gillian Martin provided in answer to below question.
https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/questions-and-answers/question?ref=S6W-30798

1. Please confirm both the status of the Grangemouth Flood Protection Scheme and initial costs/estimated final costs of scheme.

2. Why was it removed from the table if legally confirmed?

3. As it is in Cycle 1 are the Scottish Government paying 80%, Falkirk Council 20%?

4. If not, how will the scheme be funded?

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 exception 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 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, 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.

Question 1

Falkirk Council are proceeding with the notification process for the Grangemouth Flood Protection Scheme (GFPS). The current cost range of the scheme as notified by Falkirk Council, is £450-670 million. The initial cost was £108 million.

Further updates on the Grangemouth Flood Protection Scheme (GFPS) can also be found here: Grangemouth Flood Protection Scheme.

Question 2

Scottish Ministers and Cosla agreed that the GFPS should be removed from the list of cycle 1 schemes to improve the affordability of the overall cycle.

Question 3

The GFPS has been removed from the list of cycle 1 schemes.

Question 4

The Scottish Government continues to work with Falkirk Council on delivering improved flood resilience for the Grangemouth community.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at https://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.