The Scottish Government has responded to a Freedom of Information request into how much Transport Scotland has spent on cycle lanes in the last five years, with a breakdown per year and per project.

The Govermment replied:

“While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested. This is because project spend information we hold does not always disaggregate or identify distinct infrastructure types such as cycle lanes. We have recently published an Active Travel Infrastructure Investment Report for 2023-24, which may provide more of the information you are looking for. Furthermore, as outlined in the report, we are working with local authorities and delivery partners to improve our reporting processes, which enable greater transparency in future years.

The Government listed “information we hold relating to the provision of recent cycle lane infrastructure that may be useful”:

It continued:

“This 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 the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exception. While we recognise that there may be some public interest in information about Transport Scotland funding for cycle lanes, we cannot provide information which we do not hold.”

(Pic: Glasgow City Council)