Correspondence regarding road access to Ferrymuir Gait housing development: EIR release

Information requested

Correspondence or notes relating to the dispute regarding road access to Ferrymuir Gait housing development from November 1 2021 to October 1 2024 and a breakdown of any costs incurred throughout the dispute, for example legal costs.

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 enclose a copy of some of the information you requested.

You asked for correspondence or notes relating to the dispute regarding road access to Ferrymuir Gait housing development from November 1 2021 to October 1 2024.

Please see Annexes A and B to this response for details of some of the correspondence or notes relating to the dispute regarding road access to Ferrymuir Gait housing development from November 1 2021 to October 1 2024.

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

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(4)(e (internal communications) of the EIRs applies to that information. The reasons why that exception(s) applies are explained in the Annex to this letter.

Some of the information you have requested is available from:

Road Access to Ferrymuir Gait Housing Development: EIR release - gov.scot (www.gov.scot).

Written question and answer: S6W-29526 | Scottish Parliament Website
Written question and answer: S6W-26489 | Scottish Parliament Website
Written question and answer: S6W-25207 | Scottish Parliament Website
Written question and answer: S6W-24374 | Scottish Parliament Website
Written question and answer: S6W-21312 | Scottish Parliament Website

Under regulation 6(1)(b) of the EIRs, we do not have to give you information which is already publicly available and easily accessible to you in another form or format. 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.

You requested a breakdown of any costs incurred throughout the dispute, for example legal costs.

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. Transport Scotland does not hold details of all costs incurred throughout the dispute. This is because some of these costs may be covered under the Schedule of Rates within the contracts. The total legal costs to date for the dispute regarding road access to Ferrymuir Gait housing development is £15877.08.

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 the breakdown of any costs incurred throughout the dispute, for example legal costs, 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 https://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.

FOI 202400438594 - Information released - Annex A

File type

PDF

File size

1.5 MB

FOI 202400438594 - Information released - Annex B

File type

PDF

File size

5.4 MB