A75 Barlae trunk road roadworks: EIR release

Information requested

"All information in connection with the planning of the roadworks currently being undertaken on the A75 Stranraer to Dumfries road at Barlae. In particular I request all records related to the use of the diversion route via the A747 through Port William, the affect of the diversion of heavy traffic particularly ferry traffic on the environment of the village at night, the safety of the community and the effect of this on the road surface. I am only requesting the assessment and correspondence held by Transport Scotland - this should include any relevant papers that include any decision taken to divert through traffic as an alternative to shuttle working on the A75 at any time."

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 see Annex A to this response for a copy of all information held by Transport Scotland in relation to the planning of recent roadworks on the A75 trunk road at Barlae.

Under the terms of the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs (information not held), Transport Scotland is not required to provide information which it does not have. We do not have some of the information you have requested because we do not hold information on the decision taken to divert through traffic as an alternative to shuttle working on the A75. This decision would have been made by our Operating Company, Amey, who were responsible for the planning of the traffic management for these works. This diversion route is an approved standard diversion route which has been agreed with Dumfries and Galloway Council and Police Scotland.

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. While we recognise that there may be some public interest in information about traffic management for roadworks on the A75 trunk road at Barlae, clearly we cannot provide information which we do not hold.

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 202300371793 - Information Released - Annex A

File type

46 page PDF

File size

3.0 MB