Speed surveys in Sanquhar: EIR release

FOI reference: FOI/17/01954
Date received: 26 August 2017
Date responded: 21 September 2017

Information requested

Please provide information as follows:

1) Have any plans been made to take steps to enforce the 30mph speed limit in Sanquhar?

2) What is proposed in relation to this?

3) Have any surveys, or monitoring, been undertaken to obtain the full extent of the problem in relation to excessive speeding in the 30mph zone through Sanquhar?

4) Residents have expressed concern at the problems that exist in relation to HGVs thundering through the 30mph speed limit at all hours of the day and night in this zone. There are other issues with speeding cars and motor bikes as well. It is understood that both the MSP for Upper Nithsdale and MP for Dumfriesshire, have made representations on their behalf. Has Transport Scotland pursued any action regarding this subsequently?

5) Since there is a serious risk to public safety here, the speeding is on a road which passes by a school, industrial estate, pedestrian areas and shops, what is the reason for the failure to reduce the speed of vehicles to date?

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.

For ease of reference I have numbered our response below in line with your request for information.

1 / 2. In response to point 1 and 2 of your request, our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance Transport Scotland does not have the information you have requested. Therefore we are refusing your request under the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs. The reason why that exception applies is that this is an enforcement issue which is the responsibility of Police Scotland.

You may wish to contact Police Scotland at foi@scotland.pnn.police.uk, who may be able to help you.

3. Speed Surveys were undertaken over several days/nights within Sanquhar at 5 different locations in August 2017. Please refer to Annex A which contains more detailed information regarding the speed of traffic at each site.

4. We wrote to Mr Oliver Mundell MSP on 8 September 2017 and Mr David Mundell MSP on 11 August 2017. Our letters explained that speed checks were carried out using monitoring equipment in August 2017 by our operating company, Scotland TranServ. The results of these checks are provided under point 3 of this letter. Speed management measures are also programmed for implementation in early 2018.

5. As highlighted in point 1 of this letter, whilst our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance Transport Scotland does not have the information you have requested. Therefore we are refusing your request under the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs. The reason why that exception applies is that this is an enforcement issue which is the responsibility of Police Scotland.

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FOI-17-01954 - Annex A - Sanquhar Traffic Speed Sites - data.pdf

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