St John's Road and Parade Road trial scheme (FOI)

Request

With reference to a previous Freedom of Information request linked below, please provide the following information:

St John's Road and Parade Road trial scheme (FOI)

A

Please advise when the Government of Jersey expects to take the provisional list of metrics which will determine the success of the trial to the roads committee?

B

Will these Metrics be published on the Government of Jersey webiste?

C

Why are residents being excluded from determining what these metrics are?

D

What are the stock items that will be returned to store for reuse?

E

How many people attended the exhibition that was held in St Helier town hall to inform people about the scheme?

F

Please supply a copy of the responses that government has received in connection with the scheme, identified in question F of the above mentioned Freedom of Information request.

G

Does the Government of Jersey consider a three-month trial of sufficient length to appraise any potential safety improvements arising from the trial scheme?

Response

A and C

Article 35 (Formulation and Development of Policies) of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 has been applied to the release of the requested information since the Government of Jersey are in the process of developing a set of evaluation criteria for agreement which would not be made public, including the residents, until they have been agreed.

Release of the information at this stage will likely generate misinformed debate. This would affect the ability of officials to consider and develop policy away from external pressures, and to advise Ministers appropriately. 

Article 35 is a qualified exemption; therefore, a public interest test has been applied and is shown at the end of this response.

B

The metrics will inform a base line and in trial data collection, the statistically comparable data will be analysed and published on www.gov.je in the trial evaluation report in the new year. 

The metrics will include transport modal data, local perceptions of barriers to active travel and transport impacts. Work for the capture of air quality data is in progress with the aim of obtaining statistically comparable data.

D

Standard traffic equipment, such as signs, bollards and rubber traffic calming equipment will be returned to the store for use following the completion of this project.

E

This was an open exhibition and registration was not required; therefore, this information is not held and Article 10 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 applies.

F

The requested information has been provided.

Combined files.pdf

Personal information has been redacted in accordance with the Article 25 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011.

G

The trial is intended to determine whether the change in traffic management will offer benefits to the residential area, in particular active travel. 

Road safety trends would normally require a five-year data series to provide comparable statical validity.

Articles applied

Article 10 - Obligation of scheduled public authority to confirm or deny holding information

(1) Subject to paragraph (2), if –

(a) a person makes a request for information to a scheduled public authority; and

(b) the authority does not hold the information, it must inform the applicant accordingly.

Article 25 - Personal information 

(1) Information is absolutely exempt information if it constitutes personal data of which the applicant is the data subject as defined in the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2005. 

(2) Information is absolutely exempt information if – 

(a) it constitutes personal data of which the applicant is not the data subject as defined in the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2005; and 

(b) its supply to a member of the public would contravene any of the data protection principles, as defined in that Law. 

Article 35 - Formulation and development of policies

Information is qualified exempt information if it relates to the formulation or development of any proposed policy by a public authority.

Public Interest test

In applying this article, the following considerations were taken into account.

Public interest considerations favouring disclosure 

• Disclosure of the information would support transparency and promote accountability to the general public, providing confirmation that the necessary discussions have taken place.
• Disclosure to the public fulfils an educative role about the early stages in policy development and illustrates how the department engages with parties for this purpose.  

Public interest considerations favouring withholding the information 

• In order to best develop policy and provide advice to Ministers, officials need a safe space in which free and frank discussion can take place – discussion of how documentation is presented and provided is considered as integral to policy development as iterations of documents are demonstrative of the policy development process. 
• The need for this safe space is considered at its greatest during the live stages of a policy. 
• Release of the information at this stage might generate misinformed debate. This would affect the ability of officials to consider and develop policy away from external pressures, and to advise Ministers appropriately. 
• Premature disclosure of this information may limit the willingness of parties to provide their honest views and feedback. This would hamper and harm the policy–making process not only in relation to this subject area but in respect of future policy development across wider departmental business.