Damaged Bridge at Glencarse/St Madoes: EIR release

Information requested

You asked for "the timeline of each part of the process, who is responsible for each step of the delay, the contact details and e mail addresses of all parties involved, how much public money has been wasted so far as of this date and when the bridge will be fixed?"

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.

I have numbered your request for ease of reference.

1. Timeline for each part of the process.

Bridge strike by vehicle and traffic restrictions put in place – 28 March 2023

Specialist structural testing and investigation works:
Tender issue date – 21 May 2023
Tender return date – 21 June 2023
Works commenced – 12 November 2023
Works completed and A90 reopened for road users – 18 November 2023

2. Who is responsible for each step of the delay?

Transport Scotland's Operating Company, Amey, is responsible for the design and planning processes associated with the temporary and permanent bridge repairs; and for procurement of the required specialist resources for the complex repair programme.

3. The contact details and email addresses of all parties involved.

An exception under regulation 11(2) of the EIRs (personal information) applies to all 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.

4. How much public money has been spent - 1 March 2023 to 23 May 2024?

Financial year 2023/24 value = £125,094.31
Financial year 2024/25 value = £33,799.95
These costs include:

• site survey/inspections
• desk study/investigation
• design – calculations and structural modelling
• independent checking of design
• ecological and environmental input (surveys and reporting)
• traffic impact assessment

Please note that, in addition to the main repair works which are required as a result of the bridge strike, these costs include additional necessary maintenance works at the structure. Amey intends to carry out these additional maintenance works at the same time as the main defect from the bridge strike is being addressed.

5. When the bridge will be fixed?

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 we don’t currently have a commencement date for the works.

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.