Guidance on construction of cycleways: EIR release

FOI reference: FOI/17/02592
Date received: 30 October 2017
Date responded: 20 November 2017

Information requested

Government guidance on the construction of cycleways, including the legal position on allowing cyclists to cycle on a footway not covered by a redetermination order to access a cycle track.

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 interests 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.

The answer to your request is that generally anyone cycling on a footway (also known as a pavement) or footpath in Scotland which has not been redetermined is committing an offence under Section 129(5) of the Roads (Scotland) Act 1984. However, it is not an offence to cycle across a footway or footpath to access a cycle track.

All of the information you have requested is available from the Transport Scotland website, which provides detailed guidance to local authorities on the consistent approach in delivering and designing cycleways:

http://www.parliament.scot/ResearchBriefingsAndFactsheets/S4/SB_12-24.pdf (page 9 of the paper has detailed information about the cycling laws in Scotland) and the Scottish Parliament website which provides background information on a variety of cycling issues, including cycling and the law:

https://www.transport.gov.scot/media/14173/cyclingby_design_2010rev_1june_2011.pdf

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 websites listed above, then please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy.

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