Discover Lanark Project public realm improvement works: EIR release

Information requested

“The public realm improvement works delivered at the bottom of the High Street in Lanark”, and asked for “all records held by the Scottish Government relating to this  project and its funding, specifically:

1. Funding Application and Approval

a.  A copy of the original funding application submitted to PBIP by South Lanarkshire Council or other relevant bodies.
b.  The assessment criteria applied to the application.
c.  Internal review notes or scoring documentation used to determine project suitability.
d.  Any correspondence between Scottish Government officials and South Lanarkshire Council or stakeholders regarding this project.

2. Value for Money and Strategic Fit

a.  Any cost–benefit analysis, business case summary, or value-for-money justification submitted or prepared as part of the funding award process.
b.  An explanation of how the project aligned with PBIP strategic objectives, particularly in relation to regeneration priorities and alternative investment opportunities within the region.

3. Monitoring and Evaluation

a.  Any progress reports, project milestones, or post-completion evaluations submitted to PBIP or carried out by the Scottish Government.
b.  Any concerns raised or amendments made to funding based on delays, scope changes, or public feedback.
c.  Evidence of how outcomes were or will be measured, including any indicators for community benefit or economic impact.

4. Alternative Proposals

a.  Any record of whether alternative or lower-cost proposals (e.g. simpler public realm upgrades or modular community spaces) were presented to the PBIP team or considered as part of the funding assessment.”

You also noted that you were “seeking transparency regarding how this investment was assessed, prioritised, and monitored for public value.”

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

I have provided some of the information you have requested, this can be found in Annex B. However,while our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not hold most of the information you have requested. Therefore, we are refusing your request under the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs (‘Information Not Held’). The reasons why that exception applies are explained in Annex A of this letter.

We are also unable to provide some of the information you have requested because an exception under regulation 11(2) (personal data of a third party) of the EIRs applies to that information.

It is also worth noting that where information forms part of a larger document but is out of scope for your request, this information has been deleted with the citation [redacted: information is out of scope of enquiry].

Background Information - PBIP

I believe it may also be helpful to provide you with some background information on the Place Based Investment Programme (PBIP) to help clarify why the Scottish Government only holds some of the information you requested.

PBIP was established as a 5 year commitment (from financial years 2021/22 to 2025/26) to help accelerate ambitions for place, 20-minute neighbourhoods, town centre action, community led regeneration and community wealth building. COSLA and Council Leaders also agreed that PBIP funding will contribute to net zero, wellbeing and inclusive economic development, tackling inequality and disadvantage, and community involvement and ownership, including the repurposing of buildings, maintenance and repairs, reallocating external space and community led acquisition.

As part of PBIP, capital funding is allocated to local authorities, and it is their responsibility to distribute this funding to support shared local plans and aspirations, in line with the above criteria.

Decisions on projects supported by PBIP funding are made directly by local authorities, working collaboratively with local communities, together with business and the third and public sectors. As such, it is the responsibility of local authorities to determine how funds are awarded to individual projects in their area.

In practice, this means that Councils must consider how place-based investments align with other planned investments in the locality in order to streamline delivery and increase impact. They must also ensure that the investment is relevant to the needs of the local place, aligns with other local actions and provides a basis for collaboration with partners.

Upon SG issuing grants to local authorities, there is an expectation that it should be spent or contractually committed by the end of the relevant financial year. Councils can decide to reallocate funding to alternative projects in line with PBIP criteria if they choose to do so within the financial year, as long as they meet the overarching funding requirements set by Scottish Government.

As such, Scottish Government holds limited information on the specific projects funded through the PBIP direct allocation. Any information on specific projects, including progress updates and the basis on which projects were selected, is gathered and held by councils. The information that Scottish Government therefore holds in relation to your request is limited to high level information that has been provided by South Lanarkshire Council through mid-year and end of year progress reports.

Information not held

For the reasons outlined above, Scottish Government does not hold information on the following parts of your request:

1a; 1b; 1c; 2a; 2b

3b; 3c 4a

Information for Release

The information that is held by Scottish Government relates to parts 1d and 3a of your request.

Specific references to the Discover Lanark project that we believe is the focus of your request were found in eight documents.

Five of these documents were mid and end of year reports provided by the Council (you will note that the name/description of the project varies across the reports, however, we believe it is the same project being referenced). As the relevant references included in the reports were very brief, this information has been extracted from the reports and provided in Annex B.

The remaining 3 documents (1.1, 1.2 and 2) form part of this reply as accompanying attachments. These documents have been subject to some redaction of information as it is exempt from being released (see Annex A for further information).

Your request also notes that you are “seeking transparency regarding how this investment was assessed, prioritised, and monitored for public value.” As previously noted, Scottish Government does not hold this information as it is the responsibility of local authorities to make decisions regarding the projects they fund.

You may, however, wish to note that Scottish Government has commissioned the Improvement Service to undertake an independent evaluation of PBIP. Three interim reports have been published to date for 2021/22; 2022/23; and 2023/24 (please see attachment for links to these three reports). These reports highlight that Local Government have used PBIP funding to help leverage additional investment and strategically plan a pipeline of projects to address their shared ambitions for town centre action, 20 minute neighbourhoods and community-led regeneration.

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 202500470892 - Information Released - Annex

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