EIR/202600514977 · FOI/EIR · not held
Transport Scotland - structural inspection documentation relating to M8 Woodside Viaducts: EIR release
Information requested
Under Freedom of Information, I wish to know the following: All structural inspection reports, risk assessments, and engineering surveys relating to the M8 Woodside Viaducts between 2015–present, including any reports identifying cracking, load concerns, or deterioration. Also request for:
dates of each inspection summary of findings recommendations made whether any “emergency” classification was considered
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.
We have interpreted this request as asking for a list of all structural inspection reports, risk assessments, and engineering surveys relating to the M8 Woodside Viaducts between 2015–present, including any reports identifying cracking, load concerns, or deterioration.
Also request for:
• dates of each inspection • summary of findings • recommendations made • whether any “emergency” classification was considered"
As you will note from the list in Annex A, your request covers a substantial volume of information. As such, if copies of the documents are required, we would request that you refine or narrow the scope of your request as the current request may engage the exception under Regulation 10(4)(b) (manifestly unreasonable) due to the scale of work required to identify, retrieve, review and redact the material.
While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance Transport Scotland does not have some of the information you have requested. Therefore we are refusing your request under the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs. Transport Scotland does not have some of the information you have requested because no inspection was due to be undertaken in 2015 therefore the earliest defects covered by your request were recorded in 2016.
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 defects from 2015, clearly we cannot provide information which we do not hold.
Please see Annex A to this response which contains a list of reports, summarising recommendations and identifying those containing the terms mentioned in your request, including the following:-
dates of each inspection summary of findings recommendations made whether any “emergency” classification was considered
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.
Detected exemption language
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. As such, if copies of the documents are required, we would request that you refine or narrow the scope of your request as the current request may engage the exception under Regulation 10(4)(b) (manifestly unreasonable) due to the scale of work required to identify, retrieve, review and redact the material.