Options, correspondence, Ministerial minutes, emails on Usan junction: EIR release

A list of the options currently under consideration for dealing with the stretch of single track at Usan junction, any written correspondence and emails regarding track improvements between Aberdeen and the Central Belt and minutes from Ministerial meetings regarding track improvements between Aberdeen and the Central Belt, and when these meetings took place. The period considered was 01 January 2016 to 27 April 2018.

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.