Litter accumulation on the Motorways and Special Roads: EIR release

Information requested

Thank you for your letter of 5 March 2026. I appreciate the operational information provided. However, aspects of your response raise questions about how the approach described aligns in practice with the requirements of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 and the Code of Practice on Litter and Refuse (Scotland) 2018 (CoPLAR).

1. Intervention threshold and compliance with CoPLAR response expectations

Your letter explains that weekly inspections are undertaken and that areas reaching Grade E on Motorways and Special Roads are raised as Category 1 defects and programmed for clearance.

However, CoPLAR requires land to be restored to Grade A within specified timescales once it falls below Grade B. The description in your response appears to indicate that formal intervention is triggered only at Grade E. It is therefore unclear how compliance with the response expectations for Grades B, C and D is ensured in practice.

Could you please clarify:

• whether any proactive or cyclic clearance is undertaken before Grade E is reached, and
• what mechanism ensures that areas assessed at Grades B, C or D are restored within the relevant CoPLAR response periods.

2. Activity levels on the M8 west of the Kingston Bridge

You note that in 2025 Amey undertook 26 days of litter collection on the M8 west of the Kingston Bridge, collecting 222 bags and uplifting 138 large objects.

To assist understanding of how this relates to corridor condition, could you please:

• confirm the exact geographical extent covered by “M8 west of Kingston Bridge”; and
• explain how this level of activity corresponds to the inspection grades recorded for that corridor during the same period.

3. Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 Request

To better understand the condition and management of this route, I am formally requesting the following information under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002:

• Copies of the monthly litter information reports provided by Amey for the M8 Glasgow–Erskine corridor (approximately Junctions 19–30) for calendar years 2024 and 2025.
• Any inspection grading records for the same stretch, including instances where litter was assessed at Grades B, C or D.
• The defect records raised for litter on this corridor over the same period.
• The dates and locations of the 26 collection days referenced in your letter.

If any of this information is held in summary form, I would be content to receive it in that format.

4. Prevention policy and governance

You note that there is no ring-fenced prevention budget and that prevention activities are funded through broader operational budgets. Your earlier correspondence also stated that Transport Scotland spends less than 10% of the relevant budget on preventative measures.

Could you please advise:

• when this prevention-spend position was first adopted,
• who is responsible for approving it,
• how frequently it is formally reviewed (and when it was last reviewed), and
• what metrics or evidence are used to determine whether the allocation should be increased.

I would appreciate your response to the above points and the requested information within the statutory FOI timescale.

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 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

1. Intervention threshold and compliance with CoPLAR response expectations

Amey monitors compliance with CoPLAR through weekly safety inspections and patrols with cleansing programmed to address any areas identified.

Work is currently ongoing with all operating companies to ensure better compliance with CoPLAR.

Transport Scotland has in place the Performance Audit Group who audit, monitor and report on the financial, technical and performance aspects of the Operating Companies to ensure standards are being met.

2. Activity levels on the M8 west of the Kingston Bridge

You requested the exact geographical extent covered by “M8 west of Kingston Bridge” The area covered is the M8 between Junction 20 and Junction 31 and the M898

You asked for an explanation of how this level of activity corresponds to the inspection grades recorded for that corridor during the same period.

Amey's Operations team are removing litter on high-speed motorways but require the appropriate traffic management to be in place before litter picking can commence to safeguard the operatives removing the litter and to minimise inconvenience to the travelling public.

3. Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 Request

You requested copies of the monthly litter information reports provided by Amey for the M8 Glasgow– Erskine corridor (approximately Junctions 19–30) for calendar years 2024 and 2025.

Please see Annex A to this response for these details.

You requested any inspection grading records for the same stretch, including instances where litter was assessed at Grades B, C or D.

There are no inspection grading records for the litter observed during the weekly inspections. Where litter has been identified as requiring action it should be raised as a CAT 1 defect.

The Amey Inspection team has not been trained on the different grades of litter contained in the EPA. They will note any areas requiring attention and pass this on to Amey Operations to include in a litter picking programme.

You requested details of the defect records raised for litter on this corridor over the same period.

Please see Annex B to this response for these details.

You requested the dates and locations of the 26 collection days referenced in the previous correspondence.

Please see Annex C to this response for these details

4. Prevention policy and governance

There is currently no specific, ring‑fenced prevention budget for litter. Prevention activities are funded through broader operational budgets. Transport Scotland continues to work with Zero Waste Scotland and Keep Scotland Beautiful to support national public awareness campaigns, including participation in the annual Spring Clean campaign

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 202600513552 - Information Released - Annex

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