A96 between Blackburn layby and Kingsfield Road Flyover: EIR release

Information requested

Information relating to the A96 between the Blackburn layby and Kingsfield Road flyover.

You clarified on 7 November that the information was for the north-westbound carriageway. In particular, predominantly the Kinnellar roundabout.

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.

As your request has several points, I will retain your numbers for ease of reference.

1. Information including sight of any written or electronic communication detailing all reports of road surface defects on the A96, between the Blackburn layby and the Kingsfield Road flyover from September 2020 to date.

Please see Annexes A and B to this response.

2. Information including sight of any written or electronic communication detailing the roads inspection regime and records for the A96, between the Blackburn layby and the Kingsfield Road flyover from September 2020 to date.

An exception under regulation 10(4)(d) of the EIRs (unfinished or incomplete information) applies to some of the information you have requested because it is an unfinished document. This is because the new Network Maintenance Contract document is being prepared for publication on Transport Scotland's website.

This exception 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 exception. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exception. We recognise that there is some public interest in release as part of open, transparent and accountable government, and this will be met by our planned publication before the end of the year. However, this is outweighed by the public interest in ensuring that unfinished or incomplete information is not disclosed when it might misinform the public.

Please see Annexes B and D to this response - inspection reports for this location.

3. Confirmation of how often the A96, between the Blackburn layby and the Kingsfield Road flyover is inspected.

Our Operating Company for this area has a contractual obligation to inspect the trunk road network at 7- day intervals, with safety inspections carried out in accordance with the contracts and at frequencies not exceeding seven days.

4. Information including sight of any written or electronic communication detailing any reported complaints in relation to the A96, between the Blackburn layby and the Kingsfield Road flyover from September 2020 to date.

While 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. This is because no complaints have been received.

5. Information including sight of any written or electronic communication detailing any reports of incidents occurring on the A96, between the Blackburn layby and the Kingsfield Road flyover from September 2020 to date.

An exception under regulation 11(2) of the EIRs (personal information) applies to some of the information requested because it is personal data of a third party and disclosing it would contravene the data protection principles in Article 5(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation and in section 34(1) of the Data Protection Act 2018. This exception is not subject to the ‘public interest test’, so we are not required to consider if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exception.

Please see Annex C to this response - incident report for the location.

6. Confirmation of the mapping reference system used to record incidents and road defects on the A96, between the Blackburn layby and the Kingsfield Road flyover from September 2020 to date. Transport Scotland's Integrated Roads Information System (IRIS) system was used from Sept 2020 until 15 August 2022, and Asset Management Performance System (AMPS) has been used from 16 August 2022 to date.
 
7. Any photographs taken in relation to complaints, maintenance works, incidents or risk assessments concerning the A96, between the Blackburn layby and the Kingsfield Road flyover from September 2020 to date.

While 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. This is because no photographs have been taken.

8. Information including sight of any written or electronic communication detailing oil or road contaminant spillage on the A96, between the Blackburn layby and the Kingsfield Road flyover from September 2020 to date.

While 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. This is because there were no oil or road contaminant spillages.

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.

FOI 202200328470 - Information released

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