Removal of Flags Herefordshire
Case reference FOI2026/01664
Received 14 July 2026
Published 10 August 2026
Request
Freedom of Information request – removal of flags from council-controlled public spaces and assets
Please provide the recorded information below concerning flags removed by, for, or on the instructions of the council.
For the avoidance of doubt, this request is not limited to highways, highway assets or lampposts. “Public spaces and assets” means any publicly accessible land, building, structure, asset or street/public-realm furniture owned, occupied, managed, maintained or controlled by the council, or from which the council commissioned, instructed or paid for the removal of a flag. This includes, without limitation, parks, gardens, open spaces, town centres, civic buildings, council offices, libraries, leisure facilities, car parks, beaches or seafronts, flagpoles, lampposts, railings and other street furniture.
Please search all relevant council services, including parks/open spaces, estates/property, public realm, facilities, events, environmental services, procurement and finance, as applicable, and consider information held by a contractor or other person on the council's behalf.
If another authority is responsible for highways or highway lampposts, please answer for every other council-controlled space, asset, function and record. If a specific part is held by another authority, identify that authority and the precise part concerned while responding to the remainder.
Where event-level information is unavailable, please provide an annual breakdown. If costs formed part of a wider contract and cannot be separately identified, please provide the contractor, relevant contract and total recorded contract value while stating that flag-removal costs are not separately recorded.
If no flags were removed during a year, please record zero. If information is not held or costs are not separately recorded, please state that clearly. If only part is held, please provide that part and identify what is not held.
I am requesting recorded information only. Please provide CSV or XLSX where possible.
For each of the following financial years:
• 2022/23
• 2023/24
• 2024/25
• 2025/26
Please provide:
1. The number of flags removed by, for, or on the instructions of the council.
2. The council's recorded expenditure on removing them, including payments to contractors and any separately recorded internal costs.
3. If recorded, a breakdown by flag type, for example the Union Flag, Saltire, St George's Cross or another type.
4. Whether the work was undertaken by council employees, a council-owned company or an external contractor.
5. The name of any external contractor, supplier or council-owned company used.
6. The council department or team responsible where work was completed internally. I am not requesting individual employees' names.
7. Any associated contract, purchase-order or invoice reference, if recorded.
8. The amount paid to each contractor or supplier.
Response
Freedom of Information request – removal of flags from council-controlled public spaces and assets
Please provide the recorded information below concerning flags removed by, for, or on the instructions of the council.
For the avoidance of doubt, this request is not limited to highways, highway assets or lampposts. “Public spaces and assets” means any publicly accessible land, building, structure, asset or street/public-realm furniture owned, occupied, managed, maintained or controlled by the council, or from which the council commissioned, instructed or paid for the removal of a flag. This includes, without limitation, parks, gardens, open spaces, town centres, civic buildings, council offices, libraries, leisure facilities, car parks, beaches or seafronts, flagpoles, lampposts, railings and other street furniture.
Please search all relevant council services, including parks/open spaces, estates/property, public realm, facilities, events, environmental services, procurement and finance, as applicable, and consider information held by a contractor or other person on the council's behalf.
If another authority is responsible for highways or highway lampposts, please answer for every other council-controlled space, asset, function and record. If a specific part is held by another authority, identify that authority and the precise part concerned while responding to the remainder.
Where event-level information is unavailable, please provide an annual breakdown. If costs formed part of a wider contract and cannot be separately identified, please provide the contractor, relevant contract and total recorded contract value while stating that flag-removal costs are not separately recorded.
If no flags were removed during a year, please record zero. If information is not held or costs are not separately recorded, please state that clearly. If only part is held, please provide that part and identify what is not held.
I am requesting recorded information only. Please provide CSV or XLSX where possible.
For each of the following financial years:
· 2022/23
· 2023/24
· 2024/25
· 2025/26
Please provide:
1. The number of flags removed by, for, or on the instructions of the council.
2. The council's recorded expenditure on removing them, including payments to contractors and any separately recorded internal costs.
3. If recorded, a breakdown by flag type, for example the Union Flag, Saltire, St George's Cross or another type.
4. Whether the work was undertaken by council employees, a council-owned company or an external contractor.
5. The name of any external contractor, supplier or council-owned company used.
6. The council department or team responsible where work was completed internally. I am not requesting individual employees' names.
7. Any associated contract, purchase-order or invoice reference, if recorded.
8. The amount paid to each contractor or supplier.
Answer: Please see the attached FOI2026 01664 Response Spreadsheet, as requested.
Documents
This is Herefordshire Council's 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.