Transport Scotland A78 Trunk Road temporary 20 mph Speed Restriction Order: EIR Review

Information requested

Original request 202600502923

Under FOISA, I request disclosure of all information provided to Ministers in support of:

1. The A78 Trunk Road (Skelmorlie and Wemyss Bay) Temporary 20mph Speed Restriction Order 2026; and

2. Any other similar temporary speed restriction orders currently submitted to Ministers for consideration or approval.

This request includes, but is not limited to:

• emails and correspondence
• briefings, reports, assessments, or studies
• internal communications between officials and Ministers
• communications between Scottish Ministers, Transport Scotland, and NAC or other relevant bodies
• any evidence or analysis relating to the stated likelihood of danger to the public or serious damage to the road at the existing 30mph limit

Purpose of Request

While all relevant information should be disclosed, I specifically seek to understand the evidence base relied upon by Ministers when approving the Order—particularly any material supporting the conclusion that a danger to the public or serious damage to the road exists under the current 30 mph limit.

I note that no such information appears to have been proactively published.

I look forward to your response within the statutory time frame.

 

Response

Further to my email of 5 February 2026, I have now completed my review of our response to your request under the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (EIRs) for The A78 Trunk Road (Skelmorlie and Wemyss Bay) Temporary 20 mph Speed Restriction Order 2026.

I have concluded that the original decision should be substituted.

I have reconsidered your request and in particular, whilst your enquiry stated your request was for information that was relied upon by ministers when approving orders, I consider that the use of the term “in support of”, in your request could also relate to background information that does not directly relate to ministerial consideration / approval of the actual road order process.

In anticipation that these may be of interest I have provided them in Annex A to E subject to some redactions on the basis that some information is personal information, i.e the names of junior officials.

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.

My considerations set out in this letter relate only to my review of Transport Scotland’s initial EIR response and I trust that my response demonstrates that thorough consideration has been given to the concerns raised. I do note that you have raised a number of questions relating to the legal basis of temporary road orders and involvement or otherwise of Ministers and I can confirm that the relevant team will respond to those enquiries separately (ref 202600503602).I have conducted further searches for the information set out within your original request, and have identified five documents that I consider to be within that scope (i.e. two include some background information relating to the planned use of temporary 20 mph orders for various schemes including the A78 Skelmorlie to Wemyss Bay and three relate to communications with other bodies including North
Ayrshire Council and / or Police Scotland in respect to ‘making’ the order).

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 202600503485 - Information Released - Annex A - E

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