Locations of Windsocks on Scottish Motorways and Trunk Roads: EIR release

Information requested

You asked for the following information: 

1. A list of all windsocks currently installed on motorways and trunk roads in Scotland, including:

• Location or coordinates
• Road reference
• Installation rationale if known

2. Any policy or criteria governing windsock placement.

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. You asked for a list of all windsocks currently installed on motorways and trunk roads in Scotland, including: Location or coordinates, Road reference and Installation rationale if known. These are shown in the table below.

Trunk Road	Coordinates	Reasoning for installation
A1 Trunk Road (Tyne Bridge	55.977563, -2.668827 and 55.977327, -2.664993	The reason for installation is that there have been overturned vehicles in the past. There is a wind management plan for the Tyne Bridge which allows our Operating Company (BEAR Scotland), after consultation with Police Scotland and East Lothian Council, to close the A1 at Tyne Bridge and divert traffic.
A1 at Tyne Bridge and divert traffic. A87 (Skye Bridge)	174605:827111 174337:826563	The windsock helps drivers determine wind speed and direction, especially when high winds may be affecting road conditions. The windsock is part of the wind management plan for the bridge, which includes different levels of warnings and closures based on wind speed.

2. Any policy or criteria governing windsock placement.

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. Transport Scotland does not have the information you have requested because we do not hold any policy or criteria relating to the governing of windsock placement .

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 the policy/criteria governing windsock placement, clearly we cannot provide information which we do not hold.

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.