Information regarding Aberdeen-Central Belt Reference Group: EIR release

Information requested

Further to my request to you of 29 October 2018, could you please supply any updated agendas, notes, minutes and documentation associated with the Aberdeen-Central Belt Reference Group, and also any further correspondence you have had with either Network Rail, ScotRail, local authorities or Scottish Government regarding the doubling of the rail line between Usan and Montrose. The last meeting for which I hold copes of minutes is dated 19 February 2018.

Could I also receive copies of any work that ARUP (or other consultancies) has done for Transport Scotland, the Aberdeen-Central Belt Reference Group or any other divisions that you may hold copies of relating to infrastructure work on the rail line between Aberdeen and Glasgow/Edinburgh.

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.

Please find attached information pertaining to your request. 

Due to the size of the files we are unable to upload the documents referred to above. If you wish to consider, please contact us at the address below and we will be happy to provide them.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.