Maintenance records for southbound A702 prior to entering Biggar: EIR release

Information requested

For the time period of 12 months prior to 9/12/23 and with regards to the Southbound A702, prior to entering Biggar, you asked for the following information:

Maintenance records including records of independent contractors working on this area.

Records of any reports regarding the condition of this section of road.

A copy of your road inspection procedures and time scales of repairs.

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.

Maintenance records including records of independent contractors working on this area

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. We do not have the information you have requested because we do not hold any records of any planned maintenance works carried out by our Operating Company Amey, or any independent contractors, for the location and timeframe you requested.

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 of 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 maintenance of the A702, clearly we cannot provide information which we do not hold.

There was 1 instance of cyclic cleaning works at this locations which was undertaken during the period requested.

Records of any reports regarding the condition of this section of road

Please see Annex A to this response for a copy of the defect report for the time period requested in the rough area close to location requested. Please note, none of these entries match the exact location provided.

A copy of your road inspection procedures and time scales of repairs

Details of inspection procedures and time scales for repairs are contained within Transport Scotland's Information Manual which can be found by using the following link - EIR+202400432700+- +Information+released+-+Annex+B.pdf.

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.

Please also see Annex B to this response for a copy of our Operating Company, BEAR Scotland's, Network Inspections Procedure.

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 202500448696 - Information released - Annex A

File type

Excel document

File size

19.2 kB

EIR 202500448696 - Information released - Annex B

File type

PDF

File size

511.5 kB