Information regarding footpath upgrade between Borders General Hospital and Tweedbank roundabout: EIR release

Information requested

With regard to the footpath upgrade between Borders General Hospital and Tweedbank roundabout you asked for the following:

• Business Case and/or board report approving the scheme
• Budgeted cost of scheme, and
• Actual cost of scheme

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.

Please see Annex A to this response for the justification for the A6091 Blackpath to Borders General Hospital Active Travel Scheme. An exception under regulation 11(2) of the EIRs (personal information) applies to some of 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.

An exception under regulation 10(5)(b) of the EIRs (substantial prejudice to course of justice) also applies to some of the information you have requested because it is in relation to details of road accidents which relate to possible ongoing Police investigations and potential prosecutions.

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. We recognise that there is a public interest in disclosing information as part of open, transparent and accountable government, and to inform public debate. However, this is outweighed by the strong public interest in maintaining the right to confidentiality of possible ongoing Police investigations.

The original cost estimate for the scheme was £104,943.06.

Following the above report and cost estimate being created, the Trunk Road Unit Contract transferred from Amey to BEAR Scotland in August 2020. Also, Cycling by Design 2021 was published which increased the desirable minimum widths for shared footpath/ cycleways to 4.0m and design alterations were required to be made to accord with the new guidance.

The total construction costs were £330,856.25.

The increase in construction costs from the original estimate are broadly attributable to the following:

• Change in contract terms with a new contract coming into effect between the first cost estimate and the construction
• Additional requirements as prescribed by Cycling by Design 2021 which was published following the technical report
• Additional works being required to fix drainage issues uncovered in the investigation phase of the project.
• Additional works due to the position of utilities and relocation of lighting columns and signs which were not included in the estimate provided in the technical report.

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 202500459226 - Information released - Annex A

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