Information regarding the Ecological Report on A90 Bridge, Glencarse: EIR release

Information requested

"Please provide the following information regarding the A90 Bridge, Glencarse. 

What date was an Ecological Report requested following the damage to the bridge due to a lorry strike March 2023?

What date was an Ecological Report conducted following the damage to the bridge due to a lorry strike March 2023?

What date was an Ecological Report reported/completed following the damage to the bridge due to a lorry strike March 2023?

Can you provide a copy of the report"

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 I have numbered this response.

1. You asked for the date an Ecological Report was requested following the damage to the bridge due to a lorry strike March 2023?

The initial request was issued on 19 April 2023.

2. You asked for the date an Ecological Report was conducted following the damage to the bridge due to a lorry strike March 2023?

The initial environmental review report commenced on 11 May 2023.

3. You asked what date was an Ecological Report reported/completed following the damage to the bridge due to a lorry strike March 2023?

The ecological report was finalised following being approved on 6 September 2023.

4. You asked for a copy of the Ecological Report.

Please see Annexes A (1) and A (2) to this response for a copy of the Ecological Report.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide some of the information you have requested because an exception under regulation 10(5)(g) (protection of the environment to which the information relates) of the EIRs applies to that information. This is because disclosure could substantially prejudice the protection of the site of a protected species.

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 because this may assist the protection of the environment by ensuring greater access to environmental information. However, this is outweighed by the public interest in that disclosure could substantially prejudice the protection of the site of a protected species.

A further exception under regulation 11(2) of the EIRs (personal information) also applies to some of the information held in the report 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.

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.

EIR 202300381797 - Information Released - Annex A (2)

File type

10 page PDF

File size

5.1 MB