Beckingham to Fenton (passing Sutton) - Find a freedom of information request

Refers to FOI 11838875 - The road from Beckingham to Fenton (passing Sutton) has recently had some small repairs made to it.

1. Please can you provide a copy of the contract with Balfour Beaty?

2. Also is it possible to see the proposed bigger plans for the road between Beckingham and Stubton (through Fenton)

1. Lincolnshire County Council (the Council/we) confirms that it holds the information in scope of your request. We consider that the information is exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and we have considered whether it can be disclosed under the Environmental Information Regulations (EIR). An exemption at Section 39 of the FOIA allows that we consider information under the EIR where it relates to matters affecting the environment.

We have determined that the contents of the term contract with our provider Balfour Beatty falls under the provisions of Regulation 2 EIR, specifically as it relates to land, landscape and is regards to any measures such as policies, legislation, plans, programmes and environmental agreements. We consider that our contract with Balfour Beatty is commercially sensitive, and we are entitled to withhold this information under Regulation 12(5)e of the EIR.

Please accept this as our refusal to disclose the contract. Regulation 12(5)e covers the confidentiality of commercial or industrial information where such confidentiality is provided by law to protect a legitimate economic interest.

2. At this point in time the identification of the need for a scheme at this location is the first step towards seeing a scheme delivered. Investigations, including laboratory testing, will be undertaken at some point in the future to assess the parameters of the scheme, including depth of works, materials to use, type of treatment etc. This leads to a cost estimate and then works on site when budgets allow. It may well be the case that works are split over several years as costs may be significantly more than is affordable when considering the County network as a whole. And it may also be the case that not all the route is needing immediate works. Both of these matters will be considered once estimated costs are known