FOI/202500464748 · FOI/EIR · not held
Reports of road defects between Inverkip to Wemyss Bay: EIR release
Information requested
1. I would like to view the part of the contractual condition that stops Amey being allowed to correspond with the public if the public chooses to copy a politician into the correspondence
2. I would like to know how many people have complained about the condition of the road between Inverkip and Wemyss Bay
3. Was a risk assessment completed prior to one lane being closed off and why that risk assessment did not note the poor condition of the only lane usable on a trunk road.
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.
1. I would like to view the part of the contractual condition that stops Amey being allowed to correspond with the public if the public chooses to copy a politician into the correspondence.
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 this is not a specific contractual condition. However, please see Annex A to this response for a copy of the contractual obligations in relation to the handling of correspondence requests. Amey has confirmed that they processed your correspondence under section 3.1.
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 Ameys contractual obligations, clearly we cannot provide information which we do not hold.
2. I would like to know how many people have complained about the condition of the road between Inverkip and Wemyss Bay. (You later clarified that you would like this information to cover the date range of January 2025 until 12 May 2025.
Amey has confirmed that they received 17 reports of road defects for the location and date range requested.
3. Was a risk assessment completed prior to one lane being closed off and why that risk assessment did not note the poor condition of the only lane usable on a trunk road.
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 the traffic management at Inverkip and Bruacre was implemented by Inverclyde Council in relation to their City Deals project. Our Operating Company, Amey, was not involved with the traffic management set up for this project. As such, you may wish to contact Inverclyde Council who may be able to provide you with further information in relation to any risk assessments. They can be contacted at Contact Us - Inverclyde Council.
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 risk assessments, clearly we cannot provide information which we do not hold.
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. 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.