Publication - FOI/EIR release

Transport Scotland's national 20mph roll out programme: FOI release

Published: 1 May 2026
Topic: Public sector, Transport
FOI reference: FOI/202600509732
Date received: 5 March 2026
Date responded: 1 April 2026

Information request and response under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002

Information requested

1. In your FOISA response dated 02 December 2025 and Annex E thereof, Transport Scotland provided partially redacted terms of a reduced grant of up to £660,000 to Dumfries and Galloway Council for the implementation of 20mph speed limits in the financial year ending 31 March 2026. This being in substitution for a grant of £835,000 which we are given to understand reflected a wider proposed 20mph delivery plan than the reduced replacement grant which followed.

a. Does the Grant document Annex E referred to above in the sum of £660,000 remain contractually in force with the council without subsequent modification or substitution?

b. What written submissions did Transport Scotland accept from the Council as grounds for scaling back the scope of its proposed 20mph delivery programme under the previously awarded grant of up to £835,000 thereby prompting the reduced grant award of £660,000? May we have this correspondence as it appears from the perspective of securing maximum road safety for the vulnerable in urbanised locations to water down the ambition of the SG declared national 20mph roll out target previously 2025 and now we understand 31 March 2026?

c. Have Transport Scotland received any other communication for the council subsequent to the award of the £660,000 grant intimating any further material alteration to its 20mph delivery programme?

2. Please provide details of the extent of any ongoing collaborative actions being taken with Dumfries and Galloway Council to achieve wide area 20mph delivery for both trunk and council streets in the following trunk route communities either to a coordinated traffic order delivery date or retrospectively where one party is ahead of the other in terms of 20mph delivery.

Sanquhar A76
Kirkconnell A76
Thornhill A76
Crocketford A75

3. We wish to have copies, redacted where legally appropriate, of any written communications Transport Scotland have received critising the A75 20mph TTROs which we for our part consider to be a gamechanging advance in reducing traffic RTC risk and associated anxiety for active travellers and vulnerable home frontagers.

4. Clause 2 of the aforementioned offer of grant of up to £660,000 headed Purposes of the Grant states, inter alia, that:

The main objectives/expected outcomes of the Grant are:

2.4

Completion of detailed design and appropriate engagement.
Tender process to appoint a contractor.
Implementation of scheme - advertise TTRO and site works.
After 18 months, advertise the permanent TRO.

2.5

The targets/milestones against which progress in achieving objectives/expected outcomes shall be monitored are:

Quarter 1 - E&I Committee approval for Public Realm Capital 'Speed Limits and Traffic Calming' Programme, Preliminary design work and temporary traffic data surveys,
Quarter 2 - Prepare Project Brief and Project Scope for 20mph Implementation Contract workpackage and external resource. Continue design of Heathhall/Locharbriggs, Johnstonebridge, Dumfries - Phase 2, Castle Douglas and Dalbeattie 20mph schemes issue tender documents for external resource,
Quarter 3 - Appoint external resource for 20mph Implementation Contract, commence prelim designs, engagement, traffic data surveys and detailed design,
Quarter 4 - Tender packages for implementation, prepare/ advertise Temporary TROs, appoint contractors, then implement 20mph schemes (Note 3 schemes are design only).

2.6

The eligible costs for which the Grant can be claimed are:

for employees of the Grantee wholly employed to deliver the Project/Programme, the following employment costs: (i) salary, (ii) employer’s national insurance payments and employer’s pension contributions and (iii) statutory sick pay, statutory maternity pay and statutory paternity pay other than, in each case, such amounts that are recoverable from HMRC. For employees partially so employed a pro rata approach applies
Project delivery costs
Assets purchased for the sole purpose of delivery of the Grant Clause 4 of the aforementioned offer of grant headed Inspection and Information states, inter alia, that:

The Grantee shall keep the Scottish Ministers fully informed of the progress of the Project/Programme in the form of quarterly reports. Details shall include actual expenditure to date compared with profiled expenditure and any change to estimated expenditure for the financial year and/or the Project as a whole, the reasons for any such changes and progress in achieving objectives/outcomes.

Revisions to targets/milestones against which progress in achieving objectives/outcomes are monitored shall be subject to the written agreement of the Scottish Ministers.

a. We request copies of the Council's quarterly reports so far made to Scottish Ministers on the progress of the Project/Programme.

b. We request copies of any revisions to targets/milestones against which progress in achieving objectives/outcomes are monitored.

c. We request details of the amounts of grant so far released to /drawn down by the Council for the Project/Programme.

d. Is the council so far considered by Transport Scotland to be on track to deliver the Project/Programme within the current financial year and to draw down the full £660,000 offer grant? If not please explain when a non delivery forecast was communicated to Scottish Ministers or has otherwise been identified independently?

5. How far have discussions or formal notifications now advanced with councils/COSLA with respect to financial support for delivery of 20mph limits post the current financial year?

6. Scotland is now in very close proximity to the expiry of its revised national 20mph roll out target with a great many council managed eligible streets appropriately scored under national eligibility criteria as meriting 20mph still remaining at a discredited, unfit for purpose 30mph which also represent a failed Council legal duty of care to active travelling children still placed in avoidable vulnerability to serious or fatal traffic collision outcomes or otherwise inhibited from uptake of active travel by reason of 30mph permitted speed traffic safety concerns in terms of the welfare/development protection maximisation duty set out in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (Incorporation) (Scotland) Act 2024.

What steps are the SG/Transport Scotland now taking to ensure the very laudable ambition of the soon to expire national delivery target of 20mph to all appropriate roads in Scotland remains one for earliest possible fulfilment given the child protection legal 2024 Act duty referred to and the wider moral repugnancy of perpetuating a gross inequality of urbanised road safety provision for the vulnerable in harm's way that leaves some users up to seven times more at risk of RTC KSI and otherwise inhibited from the uptake of healthy active travel in the immediate community?

Response

I enclose a copy of all the information you requested.

Response 1a: As advised in the EIR 202500492047 response on 2 December 2025 Transport Scotland officials remain in discussion with Dumfries and Galloway Council officers to explore options to support accelerated delivery. As a result, an updated Grant Offer Letter was issued to Dumfries and Galloway Council on 17 December 2025 (See Annex E – Attachment 3).

Whilst we aim to provide the information wherever possible, some of the information in Annex E – Attachment 3 has been redacted in line with the following FOISA exemption:

Section 38(1)(b) – Personal data relating to third party

An exemption under section 38(1)(b) of FOISA (personal information) applies to some of the information requested because it is personal data of a third party, ie names and contact details of individuals, 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 exemption 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 exemption.

Response 1b: Email chain attached in Annex B – Correspondence with D&G.

Whilst we aim to provide the information wherever possible, some of the information in Annex B - Correspondence with D&G and additional attachments (Annex C – Attachment 1, Annex D – Attachment 2, Annex E – Attachment 3) has been redacted in line with the following FOISA exemption:

Section 38(1)(b) – Personal data relating to third party

Response 1c:

As advised in point a. Officials remained in close contact with officers from Dumfries and Galloway Council and following these discussions, additional work was considered by the authority with the grant award subsequently being revised to £835,000.

Response 2:

Sanquhar A76 – TS and D&GC are implementing 20mph speed limit on 27/03/2026
Kirkconnell A76 – TS and D&GC have implemented 20mph speed limit on 20/03/26
Thornhill A76 – TS and D&GC have implemented 20mph speed limit on 23/03/26
Crocketford A75 – TS implemented 20mph speed limit in 2025.

Dumfries and Galloway Council have been working collaboratively and flexibly with Transport Scotland to ensure deliver of 20mph speed limits in the above locations by end of March 2026.

Response 3: See Annex A – Correspondence

Whilst we aim to provide the information wherever possible, some of the information in Annex A – Correspondence has been redacted in line with the following FOISA exemption:

Section 38(1)(b) – Personal data relating to third party

Response 4a: The most recent Progress Update was provided under FOI 202500497407 dated 12 January 2026.

Response 4b: Supplied in updated offer letter in response 1a.

Response 4c: £52,105.75 of the grant has been drawn down so far.

Response 4d: Transport Scotland officials remain in discussion with Dumfries and Galloway Council to support their delivery.

Response 5: These discussions remain on-going.

Response 6: Transport Scotland continues to engage with authorities, including Dumfries and Galloway, to explore what support can be provided for their 20mph programme going forward.

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