Funding allocated to proposed fencing of M8 West Street area: FOI release

Information requested

The following information for the current financial year:

1. An overview of Transport Scotland's total budget, areas of spending, and the percentage of spending each area comprises.

2. The value of and breakdown of all contracted services with Amey Consulting.

3. Any existing risk assessments and reports regarding either - a) structural integrity or b) risk of damage - to the area below the M8 West Street on/off ramp. If these cannot be produced, confirmation that such reports have or have not been undertaken.

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.

Some of the information that you have requested is publicly available from other sources and the details are provided below. Under section 25(1) of FOISA, we do not have to give you information which is already reasonably accessible to you. If, however, you do not have internet access to obtain this information from the website(s) listed, then please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy. In addition, the Scottish Government does not have some of the information you have asked for and the reasons are explained below. We have instead provided the information that we do hold that we think is relevant to your request.

Our Response

A1. Transport Scotland is the national transport agency for Scotland and is tasked with delivering the Scottish Government’s vision for Transport including roads, rail, canals, air travel, ports, ferries, buses and active travel. The Scottish Government budget is published at this weblink and transport allocations are summarised in Annex A.4 Transport, Net Zero and Just Transition. As your question relates to the M8 motorway, Table A4.06 Trunk Road Network: Safety, Adaptation, Maintenance and Improvement Spending Plans (Level 3) provides the budget for Trunk Road Maintenance spending.

A2. The Scottish Government employs term maintenance contractors to provide all services in connection with the management, maintenance and safe operation of the trunk road network. Amey OW Limited is one of those contractors and the full scope of services is contained within the Contract documentation which is available at this weblink. The 2024/2025 funding allocation for the South West and North East Units (which are both managed by Amey OW Limited) is summarised in the table below. The values exclude Contract Price Fluctuation, which is a measure of inflation that is determined annually from published index values and is funded from within the total budget allocation.

Minor Improvement Schemes	£9,300,000
Routine and Winter	£54,807,000
Strategic Road Safety	£6,150,000
Structural Maintenance (roads)	£45,000,000
Structures Capital	£75,000,000
Structures Resource	£1,257,000
Grand Total	£191,514,000

A3. In relation to the proposed fencing scheme to the area below Kingston Bridge West Street on and off ramps, no risk assessments regarding a) structural integrity or b) risk of damage have been carried out, and no reports on structural integrity or risk of damage have been produced.

About FOI

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