A83 Rest and Be Thankful long-term solution costs: EIR release

Information requested

1. Could you supply all estimated costs of a permanent fix to the Rest and be Thankful Road to stop it closing all the time?

2. Could you supply all correspondence received about this issue from the last three months?

3. Could you supply all briefings written about this issue from the last three months?

Response

As all of 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.

1. Could you supply all estimated costs of a permanent fix to the Rest and be Thankful Road to stop it closing all the time?

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. This information can be found on the Transport Scotland website using the below link.

The Design Manual for Roads and Bridges (DMRB) Stage 3 Scheme Assessment report for the long-term, permanent solution to the landslide challenges at the A83 Rest and Be Thankful, published in December 2024, includes a cost estimate, please refer to section 3.10 of Part 1, Volume 1: a83aab-awj-gen-lts_gen-rp-zz-000006_c01-2.pdf

2. Could you supply all correspondence received about this issue from the last three months?

We are refusing your request under the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs. Under the terms of the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs (information not held), the Scottish Government is not required to provide information which it does not have. The Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested because we have not received correspondence relating to the costs of the permanent solution to the A83 Rest and Be Thankful in the previous three months from the date of your request. 

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 the requested information, clearly, we cannot provide information which we do not hold.

3. Could you supply all briefings written about this issue from the last three months?

Please refer to Annex A which includes extracts from briefings relating to the cost of the permanent long term solution sent to Scottish Ministers from the 27th September 2024 to the date of your request.

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.

EIR 202400446347 - Information Released - Annex A

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