Trunk roads drainage network at Bush, St Cyrus: EIR review

Information requested

Original request: 202500447775

You asked for information pertaining to the roads and drainage network at Bush, St Cyrus, DD10 0DH (56.7842471, -2.3901435) and the surrounding area within a radius of 500m:

• Design and construction of the ‘new’ A92 which serves to bypass Bush.
• Including road design and construction plans, road cross sections and drainage design.
• Details on the road surface water drainage, including interconnected drains in this area and the routing and structure of these drains.
• Including details of drains, pipes, locations, exit locations to environment and any note or records on who is responsible for maintenance / repair of these
• The transfer of the currently unadopted road (old A92) through Bush, from being an adopted road to an unadopted road. Including process, records and who the road and associated land titles were returned to.
• When was road unadopted and what provisions were made / stated at the time. Records on design and surface water drainage for the old A92 Including details of drains, pipes, locations, exit locations to environment and any note or records on who is responsible for maintenance / repair of these.
•  Records and details of field drains, underground pipes, and utilities. Including details of drains, pipes, locations, exit locations to environment and any note or records on who is responsible for maintenance / repair of these Contacts or organisations who would hold this data if not held by Transport Scotland.

Response

I have now completed my review of our response to your request under the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (EIRs) for information pertaining to the roads and drainage network at Bush, St Cyrus, DD10 0DH (56.7842471, -2.3901435) and the surrounding area within a radius of 500m:

• Design and construction of the ‘new’ A92 which serves to bypass Bush.
• Including road design and construction plans, road cross sections and drainage design.
• Details on the road surface water drainage, including interconnected drains in this area and the routing and structure of these drains.
• Including details of drains, pipes, locations, exit locations to environment and any note or records on who is responsible for maintenance / repair of these.
• The transfer of the currently unadopted road (old A92) through Bush, from being an adopted road to an unadopted road. Including process, records and who the road and associated land titles were returned to.
• When was road unadopted and what provisions were made / stated at the time. Records on design and surface water drainage for the old A92 Including details of drains, pipes, locations, exit locations to environment and any note or records on who is responsible for maintenance / repair of these.
• Records and details of field drains, underground pipes, and utilities Including details of drains, pipes, locations, exit locations to environment and any note or records on who is responsible for maintenance / repair of these Contacts or organisations who would hold this data if not held by Transport Scotland.

I have concluded that the original decision should be confirmed, with modifications.

Following a comprehensive review of the case, including checks of our historical records, I have found records that confirm:

• the road in question did once belong to Scottish Minister’s predecessors as part of the A92 trunk road,
• that the road in question was bypassed in 1939 and then ceased to be the responsibility of Scottish Ministers or their predecessors,
• that the remaining A92 was de-trunked in 1978 when it became the responsibility of the local authority.

My investigation has confirmed that Transport Scotland does not hold any records relating to the design, construction or maintenance of the A92 at this location, and that it is highly likely that:

• if Scottish Ministers or their predecessors held any records relating to the design, construction and maintenance, that they were handed over to whoever took on the responsibility for the road at the time of the bypass and/or de-trunking.
• the local authority held records relating to the design, construction and maintenance of this section of A92 because during this period of time (1930s to early 2000s) local authorities managed and  maintained trunk roads on behalf of Scottish Ministers and their predecessors.

I apologise for this information not being shared as part of your original EIR. I have spoken to the original case officer and highlighted areas for improvement to ensure the same mistakes are not repeated.

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 the following records that support my conclusions:

• The Perth – Aberdeen – Inverness Trunk Road (Bush Diversion) Order 1939,
• The Perth – Aberdeen – Inverness Trunk Road (Dundee to Stonehaven Trunking and Detrunking) Order 1978,
• Extracts / copies of historical map that details how the A92 in this location evolved and the details of the relevant roads orders.

Under the terms of the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs (information not held), the Scottish Government is not required to provide information which it does not have. The Scottish Government does not have most the information you have requested because i) they have not been responsible for the bypassed former A92 carriageway at Bush since 1939 or the A92 between Dundee and Stonehaven since 1978. Any records relating to the design, construction and maintenance of this section of the A92 would have been handed over to whoever became responsible for the sections of carriage following the bypassing and detrunking; ii) given the length of time since the bypassing and detrunking (86 and 47 years respectively) any records that were not handed over have been routinely destroyed, in accordance with our standard records management practice, before the date of your request.

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 this section of the A92, clearly we cannot provide information which we do not hold.

However, you may wish to contact Aberdeenshire Council as they (and their predecessor organisation Grampian Regional Council) have been responsible for this section of the A92 since 1978.

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.

EIR 202500450569 - Information Released - Records

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