Publication - FOI/EIR release

Flooding reports for M8 between J8 and J20: EIR release

Published: 23 January 2018
Part of: Public sector, Transport

Information request and response under the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004.

FOI reference: FOI/17/03048
Date received: 19 December 2017
Date responded:22 January 2018

Information requested

Please confirm:

the number (and date) of flooding reports lodged on the M8 between j8 and j20 in the last three years.
the location of these flooding issues and any remedial measures undertaken.
the date and time of all central reserve gully cleaning operations undertaken in the last three years.
the deductions withheld from the south west operating company for not fulfilling its contractual obligations.

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.

I have numbered our request for ease of reference.

As you may be aware our operating company for the M8 is Scotland Transerv. They currently maintain J10 to J20 of the M8. In relation to J8 to J10, this is currently been maintained by The Scottish Roads Partnership (SRP) under the M8 M73 M74 Motorway Improvements contract.

1 and 2. In response to your request please see attached Annex A which is a list of flooding reports that were supplied by Scotland Transerv. This list contains the location and remedial measures undertaken by the operating company. In relation the SRP's responsibility, I can confirm that there have been no reports of flooding.

3. Annex B of this response contains a list of the gully cleaning which was undertaken by Scotland Transerv. While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government 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. The reason why that exception applies is the times of the gully cleaning are not recorded on our internal reporting system, IRIS.

In relation to J8 to J10, during restricted services, gully cleaning was carried out on an annual basis. Drainage investigation and clearance of all gullies was undertaken on the 26th, 27th 28th & 29th September 2017 and 30th of October 2017 between the hours of 22:00 and 06:00 each night.

4. In relation to the final part of your request, please see attached Annex C which lists the deductions withheld from the south west operating company for not fulfilling its contractual obligations.

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