Work undertaken outside Lochaber High School, Fort William: EIR release

Information requested

The following information with regard to the work being undertaken outside Lochaber High School, Fort William, under a Freedom of Information request.

• Bear Scotland website states. “These measures seek to improve walking, cycling and wheeling facilities in the area, fulfilling the Scottish Government’s aims of making these the most popular choice for everyday journeys.” Is there a specially created and financed budget to “improve walking, cycling and wheeling facilities in the area” or does the costs come out of a general budget and if so what is that budget named?

• What is the budgeted cost for the first phase of improvement works to the shared use cycleway along the A830 connecting the A82/A830 Road to the Isles Roundabout outside Lochaber High School?

• How many phases are there on the A830 between Corpach and the A82/830 Lochyside roundabout and what are the locations? Diagrams of each phase would be useful or a link as to where I can find them on-line.

• What is the total budgeted cost for works on the A830 between Corpach and the A82/820 Lochyside roundabout?

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.

Bear Scotland website states. “These measures seek to improve walking, cycling and wheeling facilities in the area, fulfilling the Scottish Government’s aims of making these the most popular choice for everyday journeys.” Is there a specially created and financed budget to “improve walking, cycling and wheeling facilities in the area” or does the costs come out of a general budget and if so what is that budget named?

There is a specific budget for active travel called the Trunk Roads Casualty Reduction Active Travel Budget. This budget is for the whole of the trunk road network in Scotland and is not specific to the Lochaber Area.

What is the budgeted cost for the first phase of improvement works to the shared use cycleway along the A830 connecting the A82/A830 Road to the Isles Roundabout outside Lochaber High School?

The budgeted construction costs for the first phase of improvement works is £324,000.

How many phases are there on the A830 between Corpach and the A82/830 Lochyside roundabout and what are the locations? Diagrams of each phase would be useful or a link as to where I can find them on-line.

A phase of works between Annat Industrial Estate and Loch Linnhe Holiday Park was completed in January 2024 which saw a new footway link constructed in the westbound verge. The first phase of the proposed active travel upgrades between the A830/A82 Road to the Isles Roundabout and A830 Banavie Swing Bridge (A830 Banavie to Fort William (Road to the Isles Roundabout) Phase 1) is currently ongoing. This terminates at the junction for the Fort William Medical Centre/Lochaber High School. A further phase between A830 Banavie Swing Bridge and the Fort William Medical Centre/Lochaber High Junction is currently under design (A830 Banavie to Fort William (Road to the Isles Roundabout) Phase 2/3). The locations are shown on the plan included in Annex A.

Subject to available funding, this will be constructed in a future financial year. Available budgets may dictate if this will be split further either side of A830 Blar Mhor Roundabout.

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

What is the total budgeted cost for works on the A830 between Corpach and the A82/820 Lochyside roundabout?

The total estimated construction cost of the active travel improvements for the works on the A830 between Corpach and the A82/820 Lochyside roundabout is around £1.4m. This estimate may change subject to detailed design.

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 202500447061 - Information Released - Annex A

File type

PDF

File size

1.9 MB