Transport Scotland - cost of acquisition of Ardrossan Harbour from Peel Ports: EIR release

Information requested

The following information in relation to the acquisition of Ardrossan Harbour from Peel Ports:

1. The total purchase price paid for Ardrossan Harbour.

2. Any breakdown of that price, including land, assets, or associated rights acquired.

3. The total estimated cost to the public purse of the acquisition and any associated works, including redevelopment, upgrade or enabling works.

4. Any valuations, financial assessments or business cases setting out the expected cost of the acquisition.

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.  All of the information you have requested is available from The letter issued and published by the NZET committee Letter from Cabinet Secretary for Transport Ardrossan Harbour – Provision of Cost Information 25 March 2026 (Letter from the Cabinet Secretary for Transport on Ardrossan Harbour). Under regulation 6(1)(b) of the EIRs, we do not have to give you information which is already publicly available and easily accessible to you in another form or format. If, however, you do not have internet access to obtain this information from the website(s) listed, then please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy.
2. All of the information you have requested is available from The letter issued and published by the NZET committee Letter from Cabinet Secretary for Transport Ardrossan Harbour – Provision of Cost Information 25 March 2026 (Letter from the Cabinet Secretary for Transport on Ardrossan Harbour). Under regulation 6(1)(b) of the EIRs, we do not have to give you information which is already publicly available and easily accessible to you in another form or format. If, however, you do not have internet access to obtain this information from the website(s) listed, then please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy.
3. Work is now underway to review and develop the revised scope for a redeveloped Ardrossan Harbour under CMAL ownership. An Outline Business Case is expected to be presented later in 2026 when approval is expected to be sought to proceed to procurement on a preferred scheme. Work is expected to start in 2027 and take around 2 years to complete, depending on agreed scope and contract phasing. Project costs for the revised scope can only be confirmed when the design work is progressed and a contract has been agreed.
4. While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide some of the information you have requested because an exception(s) under regulation(s) Regulation 10(5)(e) of the EIRs applies to that information. The reasons why that exception(s) applies are explained in the Annex to this letter.

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.

FOI 202600512378 - Information Released - Annexes_Redacted

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