Revised request - FOI-1149-1819: I attach a list of the hundred bridges I would like reports for. Cranford - South (Original) Camden Road Bridge Wandsworth High Street Tooley Street Bridge Belgrave Dock Bridge Distillary Dock Bridge Timber Wharf Bridge Railway Dock Entrance Bridge Westminster Bridge Blind Dock Bridge Doultons Dock Bridge White Hart Dock Bridge Battersea Bridge Kew Bridge North Approach Ramp Kew Bridge South Approach Kew Bridge Clifford Avenue S Approach Clifford Avenue N Approach Vauxhall Bridge Lee High Road Bridge Hanger Lane Ealing LUL Bridge Waddon Marsh North Bound Sidcup Road River Quaggy Woolwich Manor Way Fixed Bridge Shirehall Seven Sisters Road New River Bridge Great West Road North Circular en River Brent Viaduct Turkey Brook (Original) Grand Union Canal Bridge (A4) Redbridge Mutton Brook Bridge Ingrebourne River River Rom Bridge Longford River Dukes River Great North Way Brent River Bridge Wraysbury River Bridge River Colne Bridge Duke of Northumberland's River Chapel Canal Bridge Western Avenue Park Royal Western Avenue Railway Priory Bridge Beverley Bridge Grosvenor Dock Bridge Western Avenue Hillingdon U21C Gunnersbury Avenue Rail Lambeth Bridge Bedford Bridge Crane Bridge Chiswick Bridge Morden Road (over Tramlink) Great Chertsey Road Bridge Armoury Way Bridge Iron Bridge Neasden Hanger Lane (LRT) - Original Redbridge Widening Bath Road West Bath Road East Rowley Lane Flyover Bunns Lane Bridge Newbury Park Station LTE Bridge Hook Underpass West Hook Underpass East Bow Bridge over River Lea BTNA Glencoe Street Bridge Cranford - North (P/S Ext.) London Road Euston Rd UP Hammersmith Flyover Edgware Road Station Girdering Brent Cross Flyover Brent Cross N/E Slip Rd Brent Cross N/W Slip Rd Brent Cross North Brent Cross N/W Connector Brent Cross South Brent Cross SE Slip Road Brent Cross SW Slip Road Putwell Edgware Rd Station Raft Bourne Road Flyover Coombe Lane Flyover Marylebone Flyover Edgware Way (over M1) Hall Lane Flyover Gallows Corner Flyover Bushey Road Flyover Burlington Road Flyover The Highway Bridge (Rotherhithe Tnl Vent Shaft) Colindeep Lane Bridge Pump Pail Slip Roads Croydon Flyover Turkey Brook (New) Hansard Green Cantilever/Retaining Wall (3/10) Hogarth Flyover Westway Slip, Westbourne Westway Slip, Ranelagh

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Our Ref: FOI-1320-1819

Thank you for your further e-mail regarding your request for information about road bridge inspections reports.

Your request has been considered under the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and our information access policy.

I can confirm that we do hold the information you require. However, we are refusing your request under section 14(1) of the Act. After reviewing a sample of our records we consider that providing the requested information would place an unreasonable burden on us. Our principal duty is to provide an effective transport service for London and we consider that answering this request would represent a disproportionate effort. It would be a significant distraction from our work managing the TfL network, requiring re-allocation of already limited resources and placing an unacceptable burden on a small number of personnel. We do wish to clarify that whilst we consider that your request falls under section 14(1) of the FOI Act, this does not reflect a conclusion that it has been your intention to deliberately place an undue burden on our resources.

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) guidance states that one of the indicators of a request which may fall under section 14(1) is that it “appears to be part of a completely random approach, lacks any clear focus, or seems to have been solely designed for the purpose of ‘fishing’ for information without any idea of what might be revealed.”

The ICO guidance provides the following examples of a ‘fishing expedition’ request which may fall under section 14(1) if it:

- Imposes a burden by obliging the authority to sift through a substantial volume of information to isolate and extract the relevant details;

- Encompasses information which is only of limited value because of the wide scope of the request;

- Creates a burden by requiring the authority to spend a considerable amount of time considering any exemptions and redactions.

Each of the 100 inspection reports requested are on average around 150 pages in length, with some being up over 500 pages. Each of these would need to be assessed, line by line, to consider whether any exemptions should apply. Due to the detailed nature of the reports it is likely that some information would need to be redacted for security purposes. We would therefore need to read in excess of 15,000 pages of reports and consider whether their content should be disclosed.

We consider this burden would be disproportionate to the benefit of providing it. If you would like to re-submit a more focused, specific request then we will, of course, consider it. For example, a request for the inspection report for a specific bridge or a smaller number of specifically identified bridges would be less likely to raise concerns about the disproportionate effort required to answer it.

Yours sincerely

Gemma Jacob

Senior FOI Case Officer

FOI Case Management Team

General Counsel

Transport for London

[email protected]

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