Freedom of information (FOI) releases from Herefordshire Council

This is a disclosure log of Herefordshire Council's responses to freedom of information (FOI) or environmental information regulations (EIR) requests that might be of wider public interest.

If you can't find the information you're looking for, you can make a new FOI request.

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3,322 disclosures

  1. pest control and stray dogs

    Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (or the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002), please provide the following:

    1. The number of pest control service requests or complaints the council received in each of 2023/24, 2024/25 and 2025/26, split by pest (rats, mice, wasps, bed bugs, other) if held.

    2. The number of stray dogs collected by or on behalf of the council in each of those years, and of those, how many were returned to their owners, rehomed, transferred to a rescue organisation, and put to sleep.

    3. The council's current charges for pest treatment (if any), and the name of any contractor providing the pest control or dog warden service. A spreadsheet or CSV would be ideal. If any part would exceed the cost limit, please answer the other parts and tell me which part could not be answered.

    Published: 12 November 2026

  2. Roadworks 2023 to 2025 and over Christmas 2025 and 2026

    Under the Freedom of Information Act please provide the following about roadworks on roads for which the council is the highway authority. Please include works carried out by the council, its contractors and utility companies.

    1. The number of roadworks (permits or notices) that started in each of the calendar years 2023, 2024 and 2025.

    2. An export from the council's street works register of all roadworks that were active at any point in calendar year 2025, as a spreadsheet, with one row per works and the following fields where held: street or road name; works promoter (council or named utility); works category (e.g. planned, immediate, emergency); traffic management type (e.g. full road closure, lane closure, traffic lights); proposed start date; proposed end date; actual start date; actual end date. Please exclude any personal data.

    3. The number of roadworks active at any point between 1 December 2025 and 2 January 2026.

    4. The number of roadworks for which a permit or notice had already been granted, as at the date of your response, for works due to be active at any point between 1 December 2026 and 2 January 2027. Please state the date on which this figure was taken.

    5. Whether the council operated an embargo or restriction on non-emergency roadworks over the Christmas and New Year period in 2025/26 and, if so, its dates. Where any part would exceed the cost limit please answer the remaining parts and say which part could not be provided.

    Published: 12 November 2026

  3. Missed bin collection

    I would like to request the following information relating to the council's waste collection contract with FCC Environment:

    1. Missed bin collections — the number of missed collections, broken down by bin/waste type and by month, for the past 12 months.

    1a. Total scheduled collections — the total number of bins/collection points scheduled for collection, broken down by bin/waste type and by month, for the same 12-month period.

    2. Late bin deliveries — the number of late bin deliveries (e.g. new/replacement bins), broken down by type and by month, for the past 12 months.

    3. Green waste tonnage — average weekly tonnage of green waste collected, for the most recent 12-month period for which data is held.

    4. Green waste processing locations — the names and locations (addresses and/or grid references or coordinates) of the green waste processing plants/sites FCC deposits collected material at under this contract.

    4a. FCC depot/operational base(s) — the address(es) and/or coordinates of FCC's operational depot(s) or base(s) used to service this contract in Herefordshire.

    5. Contract fines/penalties — any fines, penalty deductions, or performance-related charges issued by the council to FCC over the past 12 months, broken down by month, including the individual amount of each.

    6. Waste collection coverage map — a dataset showing the geographic coverage/rounds of waste collection operated by FCC, including round or zone boundaries and associated collection days/frequency.

    Published: 12 November 2026

  4. Homeless Applications & Interim Accommodation 2025/2026

    Re: Freedom of Information Request - Homeless Applications & Interim Accommodation 2025/2026 I am writing to request information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 regarding the council’s expenditure on interim temporary accommodation and related costs, as well as the measures being taken to reduce such expenditures. Please provide the following information:

    1. Homeless Applications and Interim Accommodation: - Over the past twelve months, how many people have made a homeless application to the Council?

    - Over the past twelve months, how many people have been provided with interim accommodation pursuant to Section 188(1) of the Housing Act 1996?

    - Over the past twelve months, how many people have been provided with interim accommodation pursuant to Section 189(b) of the Housing Act 1996?

    - Over the past twelve months, what was the total cost of providing interim accommodation?

    a) What proportion of this cost was paid to Travelodge and/or any of its parent companies/subsidiaries?

    b) What was the total amount paid to Travelodge and/or its related entities over the past twelve months?

    2. Temporary Accommodation Expenditure and Associated Costs:

    - What has been the total expenditure on interim temporary accommodation (e.g., Travelodge, B&Bs) for homeless individuals over the past three financial years?

    - Please provide a breakdown of these costs by location, including the number of placements made outside the borough.

    - What has been the total expenditure on affiliated costs such as storage, taxis, and other related services for individuals placed in temporary accommodation outside the borough over the past three financial years?

    - Please provide details of these costs by category (e.g., storage, transportation, etc.) and location.

    3. Protection of Personal Property for Homeless Applicants:

    - Over the past twelve months, how many homeless applicants have had their personal property protected by the local authority?

    - What is the average length of time that a homeless applicant’s personal property is stored by the local authority?

    - What is the average cost of storing a homeless applicant’s personal property while they are in interim accommodation?

    - Under what circumstances does the local authority protect the personal property of homeless applicants?

    - As part of the homeless application process, does the local authority expressly ask the homeless applicant whether they need their personal property protected?

    - If not, please state the reasons why this question is not asked.

    - Please provide copies of the local authority’s policies regarding homeless applications.

    - Please provide a copy of the local authority’s policy regarding the protection of the personal property of homeless applicants.

    - Please disclose a copy of the council's homeless procedures manual or policy document followed by housing solutions officers at its homeless service centres/homeless persons offices.

    - Over the past three years, how many complaints have been made by homeless applicants regarding the council’s failure to protect their personal property?

    4. Proactive Measures to Reduce Temporary Accommodation Costs:

    - What specific measures has the council taken to reduce the reliance on temporary accommodation outside the borough, such as Travelodge and B&Bs?

    - Has the council developed or initiated any programs to increase the availability of local temporary accommodation, particularly through the use of empty properties or land within the borough? If so, please provide details.

    5. Utilisation of Empty Properties and Land: - How many empty properties and parcels of land are currently owned by the council that could potentially be used for temporary accommodation?

    - Has the council considered or initiated any compulsory purchase orders (CPOs) to acquire vacant properties for conversion into temporary accommodation? If so, please provide details, including the number of properties targeted, the outcome, and associated costs.

    - What steps has the council taken to encourage community/ non-profit groups or social enterprises to make use of disused land or buildings via adverse possession for temporary accommodation or support services? Please provide examples, if any.

    6. Comparative Models and Best Practices:

    - Is the council aware of successful models such as Calderwood House in Cumbria, where an empty property (a former police station) was transformed into temporary accommodation and support services?

    If so, has the council explored similar initiatives within the borough? Please provide details of any discussions, plans, or actions taken.

    - Has the council considered offering similar arrangements, such as a peppercorn rent, to community groups or social enterprises willing to repurpose empty properties for temporary accommodation or support services?

    If not, what are the reasons for not pursuing this option?

    7. Support Services for Individuals in Temporary Accommodation: What support services does the council currently provide for individuals placed in temporary accommodation outside the borough, particularly in terms of maintaining their connection to local support networks, healthcare providers, and other essential services? Are there any programs in place to assist individuals in transitioning from temporary accommodation outside the borough to permanent housing within the borough? If so, please provide details on the nature of the support provided, outcomes, and costs.

    8. Monitoring, Evaluation, and Complaints: How does the council monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of its temporary accommodation placements, particularly those made outside the borough? Please provide any available data on the impact of these placements on residents, including any assessments of detriment or distress caused. Has the council conducted any cost-benefit analysis comparing the current expenditure on temporary accommodation outside the borough with potential savings from investing in local solutions (e.g., repurposing empty properties)? If so, please provide the findings.

    I would appreciate it if the information could be provided in electronic format, and I look forward to your response within the statutory 20 working days.

    Published: 11 November 2026

  5. littering enforcement

    I am requesting information about the council's enforcement of littering offences and civil penalties for littering from vehicles.

     

    This request draws on the reporting categories set out in Defra's statutory guidance, Litter enforcement powers: when and how to use them.

     

    Please provide the information separately for the following periods:

     

    2023/24: 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024

     

    2024/25: 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025

     

    2025/26: 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2026

     

    2026/27 (partial year): 1 April 2026 to 30 September 2026

     

    For clarity, please distinguish between:

     

    Litter fixed penalty notices (FPNs): FPNs issued in connection with the criminal offence of littering under sections 87 and 88 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990.

     

    Civil penalties for littering from vehicles: Civil penalties imposed on vehicle keepers under the Littering From Vehicles Outside London (Keepers: Civil Penalties) Regulations 2018, or the equivalent applicable legislation in London.

     

    Please exclude penalties for other offences, including fly-tipping, waste duty-of-care breaches, dog fouling and public spaces protection order breaches, unless these cannot be separated from the requested figures.

     

    For the number of penalties issued, please provide figures for notices issued during each reporting period.

     

    For outcomes (including payments and cancellations), where possible, please provide figures relating to notices issued during each reporting period, using their latest recorded status at the time of responding.

     

    If outcomes cannot readily be linked to the year of issue, please instead provide the number of penalties paid or cancelled during each reporting period, regardless of their original issue date, and indicate which reporting basis has been used.

     

    For financial receipts, please provide the amounts received during each reporting period, regardless of when the original notice was issued.

     

    Please include penalties issued by private contractors or external enforcement providers acting on the council's behalf in all relevant figures. Where information is held by a contractor on the council's behalf, please include it in the response in accordance with section 3(2)(b) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

     

    Request:

     

    1. Does the council currently carry out its own litter enforcement activity (e.g. issuing fixed penalty notices for littering), use any external/private companies or contractors, or a mixture of both? Since 2023/24, have there been any changes in these arrangements? Please provide details.

     

     

    1. Since 1 April 2023, has the council suspended, paused or discontinued littering enforcement at any point, or experienced any factors limiting its enforcement activity, such as staffing shortages, recruitment difficulties or budget constraints? If so, please provide brief details of the circumstances and the periods affected, where this information is recorded.

     

    1. Please provide the following figures for litter fixed penalty notices (FPNs) for each reporting period, using the reporting basis specified above.

     

     

    Type

    2023/24

    2024/25

    2025/26

    2026/27*

    a) Number of FPNs issued

    b) Number of FPNs issued during the reporting period that have since been paid, either in full or at a discounted rate

    c) Number of FPNs issued during the reporting period that have since been cancelled or withdrawn

    d) Number of prosecutions commenced during each reporting period for littering offences under section 87 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990

    e) Total gross receipts from litter FPN payments

     

    1. Please provide the following figures for civil penalties for littering from vehicles for each reporting period, using the reporting basis specified above.

     

    Type

    2023/24

    2024/25

    2025/26

    2026/27*

    a) Number of civil penalty notices issued.

    b) Number of civil penalty notices issued during the reporting period that have since been paid either in full or at a discounted rate

    c) Number of civil penalty notices issued during the reporting period that have since been cancelled or withdrawn.

    d) Number of civil penalty cases referred for debt recovery or enforcement during each reporting period following non-payment, if separately recorded

    e) Total gross receipts from civil penalty payments

     

    1. Please provide the council's total annual gross expenditure on littering enforcement for each reporting period, if this information is already separately recorded.

     

    Type

    2023/24

    2024/25

    2025/26

    2026/27*

    Gross expenditure on littering enforcement

     

    Notes on the request

    Where the information is already publicly available, please provide a direct link to the relevant figures.

    Where information is not held in the precise format requested, please provide the closest equivalent information already recorded, identifying any differences in definition or coverage.

    Please distinguish between:

    -          A recorded figure of zero.

    -          Information not held or not separately recorded.

    -          An enforcement power or activity that the council does not use.

     

    I am not asking the council to create new information, produce estimates or undertake manual reviews of individual case files where this would exceed the appropriate cost limit.

     

    If any part of the request is likely to exceed the cost limit, I would welcome advice and assistance on how to narrow it while retaining the remaining information.

     

    Please provide the requested figures in the tables above.

     

    Published: 11 November 2026

  6. Active Councillors by Year

    Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, I would like to request the following information:

    • A yearly list of all councillors, from shortly after the May elections in each year, who have been elected on the council from the year 2000 to 2016.

    • For each councillor, please include their name, party, and ward, and where possible their start and end dates of service.

    I am happy to receive the information in any convenient format (e.g. CSV, spreadsheet, or typed document). We are also happy to receive copies of, or links to, existing documents or meeting minutes that show this information. Please direct us to existing sources of information where appropriate.

    Published: 11 November 2026

  7. Services for adults with learning disabilities and / or autism

    For the purpose of this research, we are defining a day service as a building-based organisation providing day time support and activities for adults with learning disabilities and/or autism. This definition would also include specialised day service organisations such as providers specifically offering arts, horticulture, self-advocacy, farm-based organisations or similar in line with the above. We would be grateful if you could provide the following information under the Freedom of Information Act:

    1. A list of all day services operating within your local authority area that specifically support adults with learning disabilities and/or autism or if not available a list of all services commissioned to provide services in your area.

    2. The total number of individuals with a learning disability and/or autism who you currently commission day services within your local authority area.

    3. Details of the systems, monitoring arrangements, quality assurance measures, and expectations your local authority has in place to review and ensure the quality-of-service provision and the experience of individuals accessing day services. Including (over the last 12 months):

    a. The number of day service providers that have required Local Authority intervention, support, or improvement action as a result of identified quality concerns;

    b. The number of day service providers that have ceased operating, had contracts terminated, or been closed as a result of quality concerns.

    4. For the day services identified in Question 1, please outline the proportion of placements funded via the following arrangements:

    o Direct Payments;

    o Local Authority commissioning arrangements; o Personal Budgets;

    o Mixed; or

    o Any other funding mechanism (please specify).

    5. How much do you as a local authority spend on commissioning/funding day services?

    Published: 11 November 2026

  8. BODS compliance

    As established by previous FOI request FOI2026/01116, bus route tenders specify the following: routes must "be BODS compliant re: data protocol required by the DfT" and "If BODS data is not up to date this will prohibit payments". I therefore ask, with the clause being present:

    1) Since 1 January 2021 (when operators became legally obliged to submit timetable data to BODS), how many payments to operators have been "prohibited" - withheld, reduced or delayed - due to inaccurate or outdated BODS data?

    2) Since 1 January 2021, how many notices, warnings, or other written communications have been sent to operators regarding BODS compliance?

    3) If possible, please additionally separate the total number for Q2 by contract number.

    Published: 11 November 2026

  9. Video game loans from libraries

    Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, please provide the following information. I would like it in spreadsheet (CSV or Excel) format where possible, under section 11.

    1. Does your library service lend video games? If yes, how many video game items were in stock on 31 October 2026, by platform (PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch / Switch 2, PC, other)?

    2. The number of loans of video game items in each calendar year 2023, 2024 and 2025, and from 1 January to 31 October 2026.

    3. The 10 most-borrowed video game titles in each of those periods, with the platform and the number of loans for each.

    4. Any charge to borrow a video game, and the loan period. If your library management system's standard loans report gives this, that is enough. If answering in full would exceed the cost limit, please tell me under section 16 how I could narrow the request.

    Please prioritise questions 1 and 2, and the most recent full year. I am asking only for aggregate figures, not any personal information.

    Published: 11 November 2026

  10. Planning Application P261515F - Request for Information in

    Knapp House Eardisland - Planning Application P261515F

    - Request for Information in connection withDocuments Submitted For Validation In accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000, and as provided for by Herefordshire Council Freedom Of Information Procedure 2026 - 2029, will you please make available, or identify the whereabouts within 20 days, the following information and / or documents:

    Material evidence relating to the validation of retrospective planning application for change of use, in particular:

    Dated drawings, images, 3rd party surveys etc, depicting the internal and external condition of the property on or before May 2025, when construction activities commenced to change the use of the building.

    To pass validation, such information would be essential, and available for public scrutiny on Herefordshire Council planning portal for planning application P261515F.

    Published: 10 November 2026