Repairs and pot hole damage on roads: EIR release

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


FOI reference: FOI/18/00367
Date received: 8 February 2018
Date responded: 12 March 2018

Information requested

For each route: A9, A90, A96, A82, A84, A701, A75, A76 and A77 -

  • How much has been spent on repairing potholes, for each year, between 2010-2017?
  • How much has been spent on road maintenance, for each year, between 2010-2017?
  • How many claims for compensation for pothole damage were a) submitted b) successful c) unsuccessful, for each year, between 2010-2017?

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.

  • How much has been spent on repairing potholes for each year, between 2010-2017?
  • How much has been spent on road maintenance, for each year, between 2010-2017?

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance Transport Scotland do not have some of the information you have requested, in particular information from 2010 to 2012 for the A82, A701, A75, A76, A77 and part of the A9 and from 2010 to 2013 for the A9, A90 and A96. Therefore we are refusing your request under the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs. The reason why that exception applies is we do not hold this information prior to the 4th Generation Term Contract for Management and Maintenance of the Scottish Road Network. The 4th Generation contract commenced in April 2013 for the North West and South West regions and August 2014 for North East and South East regions.

We have also applied regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs to the first part of your request regarding the amount spent on repairing potholes. The reason why that exception applies is that these costs are part of a maintenance budget and we are unable to breakdown for this type of spend. We are however able to give you information in relation to spend on road maintenance each year for each route. This is contained in Annex A.

  • How many claims for compensation for pothole damage were a) submitted b) successful c) unsuccessful, for each year, between 2010-2017?"

Please refer to Annex B for claims for compensation. In relation to figures for the A9, A90 and A96, Transport Scotland do not have the information in the format you have requested. We have therefore applied regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs to your request regarding successful and unsuccessful claims. We have however the total number of claims per route from 2013 – 2016. 2017 figures for successful and unsuccessful claims for the A9, A90 and A96 are currently unavailable.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses

FOI1800367 - Annex A and Annex B - Maintenance Spend.pdf

Contact

Please quote the FOI reference

Central Enquiry Unit
Email: ceu@gov.scot
Phone: 0300 244 4000

The Scottish Government
St Andrew's House
Regent Road
Edinburgh
EH1 3DG

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