Request for latest Highways Agency Drainage Data Management System (HADDMS)
Case reference EIR2024/01813
Received 19 December 2024
Published 10 February 2025
Request
Please could you send me the latest Highways Agency Drainage Data Management System (HADDMS), as described on this page: https://www.data.gov.uk/dataset/bb85340f-7f98-445f-b56c-70018151bdcf/highways-agency-drainage-data-management-system-haddms
Response
Information Withheld
The information has been withheld under Regulation 12(4)(b) which applies to requests which we find to be 'manifestly unreasonable'. In this case this is due to the excessive cost of providing the information which you have requested.
HADDMS was superseded by the Geotechnical and Drainage Management Service (GDMS) in October 2024 and all record have been migrated.
GDMS holds a large volume of geotechnical, drainage, and environmental data, including datasets from third parties. This includes over 13,800km of pipework, 9,000km of ditches and channels, 9,000km of filter drains and approximately 1million point assets (gullies, chambers, inlets and outlets, outfalls, soakaways, and ponds.
The data is divided into 8 categories:
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Drainage asset inventory and condition in shapefile format
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Floods in csv format
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Spills in csv format
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Flood risk in geodatabase format
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Priority asset risk in csv format
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Drawing sets - this is legacy archive of drainage drawings that has been superseded by the drainage asset shapefiles
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Projects - records of National Highways schemes
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All geotechnical asset information
As a result of the volume of data held on GDMS and the complexity of the data structure, it would take specialist technical staff more than 24 hours to write an extraction query and quality assure it to ensure it is outputting the correct data.
Unfortunately, this will create a burden on the Freedom of Information and the Drainage teams. Handling your request will place a corresponding strain on resources and adversely impact our ability to answer other requests.
ICO guidance on the reasonable cost of compliance under the Freedom of Information Act (FOI) sets the limit for central government at 24 hours of staff time (£600) and at 18 hours of staff time (£450) for all other public authorities. The ICO advises that, under the Environmental Information Regulations the FOI cost of compliance limit may be referred to when considering whether a request may be "manifestly unreasonable" and represent a "disproportionate burden" on the public authority.
National Highways is a public authority and not a central government department however we use the upper limit of staff time when considering the cost of compliance under EIR.
For the reasons articulated above, we have calculated that the cost of complying with your request will exceed 24 hours of staff time. We believe that the exception at Regulation 12(4)(b) applies, and we are refusing your request on this basis.
Public Interest Test
The application of this EIR exception to our EIR obligations is dependent on the results of a Public Interest test (PIT). Conducting a PIT involves weighing up the public interest arguments for and against disclosure of the information requested. A copy of the PIT is attached.
Advice and Assistance
You are welcome to submit a new request for a narrower category of information.
We have an automated reporting processes that provides data on 5 of the 8 categories:
· Drainage asset inventory and condition in shapefile format
· Floods in csv format
· Spills in csv format
· Flood risk in geodatabase format
· Priority asset risk in csv format
Each of these reports provide all the information that is visible to a user on GDMS.
The automated reports show all the national information held, or they can be broken down to show information by National Highways management area. The reports are run quarterly, the most recent one of which is dated 28 December 2024.
Please find attached a map showing the National Highways management areas, which are:
North West Region - areas 10 and 13
• Yorkshire North East Region- areas 12 and 14
• East Region - areas 6 and 8
• Midlands Region - areas 7 and 9
• South West Region - areas 1 and 2
• South East Region - areas 3 and 4
Please note that in addition to the above, some areas of the Strategic Road Network are operated and maintained by contractors as part of DBFO (Design Build Finance Operate) arrangements. These areas are:
• A69 Newcastle to Carlisle - area 25
• A168/A19 Dishforth to Tyne Tunnel - area 26
• M1-A1 Link (Lofthouse to Bramham) - area 27
• A50-A564 Stoke to Derby - area 28
• A1(M) (J14-17) Alconbury to Peterborough - area 29
• M40 (J1-15) Denham to Warwick - area 30
• A419/A417 Swindon to Gloucester - area 31
• A30/A35 Exeter to Bere Regis - area 32
• A1 Darrington to Dishforth - area 33
• A249 Stockbury (M2) to Sheerness - area 34
• M25 including associated link roads, Dartford Tunnel, Berks, Bucks, Herts, Essex, Kent and Surrey - area 5
GDMS contains information covering DBFO area 5 (M25 including associated link roads, Dartford Tunnel, Berks, Bucks, Herts, Essex, Kent and Surrey). The other DBFO areas use different systems to record their geotechnical, drainage, and environmental data.
If you were to reduce the scope of your request, for example by limiting it to the last quarterly automated report for the above 5 categories, for some or all of the National Highways management areas, it may be that we could comply with that request without Regulation 12(4)(b) being engaged, although we cannot guarantee that will be the case.
You may also wish to ask for our assistance in reducing the costs of your request by reply to this email.
Documents
This is National Highways' response to a freedom of information (FOI) or environmental information regulations (EIR) request.
You can browse our other responses or make a new FOI request.