EIR/202600522579 · FOI/EIR · cost limit
Transport Scotland inspection of highway structures: EIR release
Information requested
You stated I am writing to request information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 concerning the inspection of highway structures (bridges, culverts, and similar structures) maintained by your authority.
This request is made with reference to the inspection framework set out in CS450 and the Wellmanaged Highway Infrastructure: A Code of Practice (Road Liaison Group), which together establish a maximum six-year interval between Principal Inspections unless a longer interval has been formally approved through a risk-based assessment.
For every highway structure within your authority's inventory, please provide the following, ideally as a single spreadsheet with one row per structure:
1. a) The structure name and unique identifier or reference number.
1. b) The asset type (for example, bridge, culvert, retaining wall, or footbridge) and the span or length, where held.
1. c) Confirmation of ownership and maintenance responsibility (i.e. whether the structure is maintained by your authority, a third party, or held under a Rights of Way designation), so that responsibility for each structure is unambiguous.
1. d) The date of the most recent General Inspection.
1. e) The date of the most recent Principal Inspection.
1. f) The scheduled date of the next Principal Inspection.
1. g) The inspection interval currently applied to the structure, in years, and whether this is the standard six-year interval under CS450 and the Well-managed Highway Infrastructure Code of Practice, or an extended interval.
2. For any structure where the Principal Inspection interval has been extended to ten years or more under a risk-based assessment, please provide, for that structure individually rather than as a general policy statement:
2. a) The date on which the extension was approved.
2. b) The role or team responsible for approving the extension (for example, Principal Engineer or the Bridges and Structures Team), without needing the name of the individual officer.
2. c) The methodology or criteria used to justify the extension under your risk-based assessment process.
3. The date on which your authority's current risk-based variable interval policy (if you operate one) came into force, and what governed Principal Inspection intervals for structures last inspected before that date.
4. Confirmation of whether this disclosure represents your authority's complete inventory of highway structures, or whether any structures, or any historical inspection records, are held separately (for example in a legacy asset management system not reflected in this return).
5. Confirmation of whether any dates in the disclosed data are system defaults, placeholders, or otherwise not genuine inspection dates, and if so, which records these affect.Points 1 and 2 above are my priority. If answering
Points 3, 4, and 5 in addition would cause this request to exceed the appropriate cost limit under Section 12 of the Act, please disregard points 3, 4, and 5, provide points 1 and 2 in full, and confirm which of points 3, 4, and 5 you have omitted on cost grounds, so that I may consider requesting them separately. If point 2 itself, together with point 1, would already exceed the cost limit, please advise how point 2 may be narrowed, for example by raising the ten-year threshold, to bring it within the limit while still providing point 1 in full.
Please cover all structures currently on your inspection register, regardless of inspection history. If possible, please provide this information in electronic format as a spreadsheet (for example XLSX or CSV), with one structure per row, columns in the order requested above, and dates in DD/MM/YYYY format.
If any part of this request is refused, please provide a clear explanation for the refusal under each specific point, citing the relevant exemption(s) under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and outlining your reasoning in each case.
If the scope of this request exceeds the appropriate cost limit under Section 12 of the Act, please advise how it may be refined to bring it within that limit.
Please confirm receipt of this request, and that you are required to respond within 20 working days under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.*
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.
Please note that Transport Scotland’s responsibility for structures applies to those on the Scottish trunk road network only. Therefore, this response Is restricted to those structures.
Furthermore, some structures are classed as major structure or are part of a major structure complex. (for example the Forth Road Bridge and some of the associated structures nearby). These structures sit out-with the normal Principal and General Inspection regime and are subject to a bespoke programme of inspections. The programme is no longer than the 6 year inspection cycle for the rest of the network. These have been indicated as "Major" in the "Date of most recent PI" column.
Some structures on the list have been constructed within the last 5 years and have not yet been subject to a Principal Inspection. These are marked as "new".
Road Traffic signs greater than 7 metres in length are a relatively recent addition to the Inspection regime and some of these have not yet had a Principal Inspection. These are marked as "Sign
Q1. You requested for every highway structure within your authority's inventory, please provide the following, ideally as a single spreadsheet with one row per structure:
1. a) The structure name and unique identifier or reference number.
1. b) The asset type (for example, bridge, culvert, retaining wall, or footbridge) and the span or length, where held.
1. c) Confirmation of ownership and maintenance responsibility (i.e. whether the structure is maintained by your authority, a third party, or held under a Rights of Way designation), so that responsibility for each structure is unambiguous.
1. d) The date of the most recent General Inspection.
1. e) The date of the most recent Principal Inspection.
1. f) The scheduled date of the next Principal Inspection.
1. g) The inspection interval currently applied to the structure, in years, and whether this is the standard six-year interval under CS450 and the Well-managed Highway Infrastructure Code of Practice, or an extended interval.
A1. Please see Annexes A - E to this response for the information requested at Question 1 above, from each of Transport Scotland's DBFO concessionaires and Annex F to this response for information regarding Transport Scotland's Operating Companies.
Q2. You stated " for any structure where the Principal Inspection interval has been extended to ten years or more under a risk-based assessment, please provide, for that structure individually rather than as a general policy statement:
A2. No Principal Inspection interval has been extended to ten years or more.
Q3. You asked for The date on which your authority's current risk-based variable interval policy (if you operate one) came into force, and what governed Principal Inspection intervals for structures last inspected before that date.
A3. Please refer to A2.
Q4. You requested confirmation of whether this disclosure represents your authority's complete inventory of highway structures, or whether any structures, or any historical inspection records, are held separately (for example in a legacy asset management system not reflected in this return).
A4. All Transport Scotland Operating Companies and DBFO Concessionaires have confirmed thisdisclosure represents your authority's complete inventory of highway structures.
Q5. You requested confirmation of whether any dates in the disclosed data are system defaults, placeholders, or otherwise not genuine inspection dates, and if so, which records these affect.
A5. There are no dates in the return that are system defaults, placeholders, or otherwise not genuine inspection dates with the exception of M77 DBFO who advise the date of next PI is placeholder only at this stage.
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
If answering Points 3, 4, and 5 in addition would cause this request to exceed the appropriate cost limit under Section 12 of the Act, please disregard points 3, 4, and 5, provide points 1 and 2 in full, and confirm which of points 3, 4, and 5 you have omitted on cost grounds, so that I may consider requesting them separately. If any part of this request is refused, please provide a clear explanation for the refusal under each specific point, citing the relevant exemption(s) under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and outlining your reasoning in each case. If the scope of this request exceeds the appropriate cost limit under Section 12 of the Act, please advise how it may be refined to bring it within that limit. 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'.